Cooke's Tale 8

　The Cooke Telescope in Kobe will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2023.

　The only Cooke telescopes in the world with a diameter larger than 25 cm are the 25-inch (63.5 cm) "Newall Telescope" made in 1869 (National Observatory of Athens, Greece), the 18-inch (45.7 cm) acquired by the National Astronomical Observatory of Brazil in 1911, the 10-inch (25 cm) made in 1871 used by the Mills Observatory in Scotland, and the 10-inch (25 cm) made in 1860 used by the Blackett Observatory in Wiltshire. Including the 10" (25cm) in Kobe, Japan, there are only five. (Please forgive me if there are others, as this is online information.

　Since the 1860 Cooke telescope is still in use, the 1923 Cooke telescope at the Youth Science Museum will likely continue to work well.

　The picture above shows the CMOS camera mounted on the Cooke telescope. This is the latest and best way to observe the Moon and planets with the Cooke telescope.

　Below are a number of astrophotographs taken with the Cooke 25cm refractor telescope.

　Lastly, I would like to share with you the writings of two individuals regarding the resurrection of the Cooke Telescope.

　 The first was Mr. Yuji Nishimura, Senior Managing Director of Nishimura Seisakusho (in 1984), who was in charge of the overhaul.

　My father (Mr. Shigejiro Nishimura) had often told me about the Cooke 25cm telescope. My father was present at the dismantling and packing of the telescope when it was transferred from the Meteorological Observatory to Kobe City in 1967, and he continued to take an interest in its treatment, often saying, "I want to do something with it In my lifetime.

　For this overhaul, I was worried about the state of preservation since it had been quite a while since the transfer to Kobe City, but the main parts, including the lens, were surprisingly intact, and with the exception of a few parts, we were able to restore it to its original form.

　Some of the measurement-related aids were damaged, and all of the original parts could be used, except for the driving clock, which was made into an electric clock, and new small parts (bolts, etc.).

　Anyway, the process was difficult because the polar axis alone weighed 196 kg, but some of the old employees had experience in repairing the century-old Cooke refractor at Kyoto University, and we were able to restore it almost on schedule.

　The castings used for the base and measuring instruments are of extremely high quality, and in any case, I believe they were custom-made, so it took at least a year from production to delivery.

　Even looking at the grips of the handles attached to the four rotating rods, each of them has a different shape (so that they can be identified even in the dark), and I am impressed that they are indeed made by Cooke.

　The date of manufacture is unknown, as there is no nameplate with the production number. The plate attached to the scale reads "1923". The screws and other parts are all based on inches, but some of the screw holes and parts were of unknown use.

　If you were to purchase a new one of the same quality today, it would probably cost no less than 20 million yen. (If it is made in a foreign country, it will be more expensive.

　When we inspected the lens at the request of the city of Kobe about two years ago, we found that the lens was in an unexpectedly good state of preservation, although it had grown mold.

　Anyway, we had no drawing materials at all, so when unpacking, it took a lot of time to inspect each part one by one to see which one it was.

　Since it was a large machine and we had never overhauled such a large machine before, we held meetings on how to do the restoration work and how to set it up, so that the staff involved in the work would always be unified.

　For an open type, there were many parts that were surprisingly unharmed, perhaps because they were well maintained and managed, such as oiling, when they were used.

　The "scale ring" used to determine the position of the stars is extremely elaborate, indicating that it must have been manufactured using the top-notch technology of the time.

　The lens was probably made by Rapid Pinkington. At that time, most of Cooke's telescopes used lenses made by this company, although they were absorbed by the British company Grubb-Person, which manufactured the reflector type telescopes for Okayama Observatory.

　We were also in charge of the construction of the dome for the Youth Science Center, but since it is for public use, the dome is a bit larger than the Marine Observatory.

　In any case, I would like to express my respect once again for the efforts of the city of Kobe and others involved in the restoration and use of the venerable Cooke's 25cm.

　If used properly and with sufficient maintenance and management, it can be used semi-permanently, let alone for the next 50 years.

　We are now looking forward to seeing how it will be used at the Youth Science Center.

(Chasing the Sun Again. Kobe City Board of Education Telescope History Editorial Committee. (Excerpted from Kobe Shimbun Publishing Center. 1984. P71-74)

　The second was Mr. Masashi Manabe, editorial writer of the Kobe Shimbun (at that time in 1984).

 The telescope is a machine, so we should treat it as a machine, but it is strange that we feel something more than that about this “Taiyo", something like a personality.

　There was a time of disadvantage. When I learned that the astronomical telescope was not given a place in the dome of the observatory and had to endure in a warehouse, I thought, "That must have been a tough time. It is up to human beings to think so, but when it comes to overhauling the telescope and embarking on a second life - or perhaps a "telescope life" - it is human nature to want to say, "Good luck! (Omission)

　Persistence, or effort. And luck. Looking back at this telescope, that's exactly what's behind it. I hope that with hard work and luck, we can continue to give dreams to young people.

(Chasing the Sun Again. Kobe City Board of Education Telescope History Editorial Committee. (Excerpted from Kobe Shimbun Publishing Center. 1984. p82-83)

(References)

Chasing the Sun Again. Kobe City Board of Education Telescope History Editorial Committee. (Kobe Shimbun Publishing Center, 1984)

Cooke Refractor, Wikkipedia, viewed 2021.7.11