Paris Observatory
Alternative names | Observatoire de Paris | ||
---|---|---|---|
Observatory code | 007 | ||
Location | Montparnasse, 14th arrondissement of Paris, Paris, Seine, Île-de-France, Metropolitan France, France | ||
Coordinates | 48°50′11″N 2°20′11″E / 48.836439°N 2.336506°E | ||
Established | 1667 | ||
Website | www | ||
Telescopes | |||
| |||
Related media on Commons | |||
The Paris Observatory (
, a suburb southwest of Paris.The Paris Observatory was founded in 1667.[1].Construction was completed by the early 1670s and coincided with a major push for increased science, and the founding of the Royal Academy of Sciences.[2][self-published source?] King Louis XIV's minister of finance organized a "scientific powerhouse" to increase understanding of astronomy, maritime navigation, and science in general.[2]
Through the centuries the Paris Observatory has continued in support of astronomical activities, and in the 21st century connects multiple sites and organizations, supporting astronomy and science, past and present.[3] [4]
Constitution
Administratively, it is a
- Research in astronomy and astrophysics
- Education (four graduate programs, Ph.D. studies)
- Diffusion of knowledge to the public
It maintains a solar observatory at
History
The Paris Observatory was proposed in 1665-1666 by the
The Paris Observatory predates by a few years the Royal Greenwich Observatory in England, which was founded in 1675. The English philosopher John Locke visited the Paris Observatory on 28 August 1677, which he recorded in his journal: "At the Observatory we saw the Moon in a twenty-two foot glass, and Jupiter, with his satellites, in the same. The most remote was on the east, and the other three on the west. We also saw Saturn and his ring, in a twelve-foot glass, and one of his satellites. Monsieur Cassini told me, that the declination of the needle at Paris is about two and a half degrees to the west."[8]
The architect of the Paris Observatory was Claude Perrault whose brother, Charles, was secretary to Jean-Baptiste Colbert and superintendent of public works.[9] Optical instruments were supplied by Giuseppe Campani. Construction of the Observatory was completed in 1671, though the buildings were extended in 1730, 1810, 1834, 1850, and 1951.[10] The last extension incorporates the Meridian Room designed by Jean Prouvé.[11]
Accomplishments
In 1671 Saturn's moon Iapetus was discovered from the observatory, followed by Rhea in 1672.[12] The moons Dione and Tethys were also discovered from the observatory in 1684.[12]
In 1676 the staff concluded that light itself was travelling at a finite speed.[13]
The world's first national almanac, the
In November 1913, the observatory used the Eiffel Tower as an antenna, exchanged sustained radio signals with the United States Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. to determine the exact difference of longitude between the two institutions.[14]
Heritage
The Paris Observatory library preserves a great number of original works and letters of the Observatory and well known astronomers. The entire collection has been inventoried in an online archive called Calames.[15] Some of the work is now digitized on the digital library such as those of Johannes Hevelius, Jérôme Lalande and Joseph-Nicolas Delisle.
Directors and staff
The title of Director of the Observatory was officially given for the first time to César-François Cassini de Thury by a Royal brevet dated November 12, 1771.[16] However, the important role played by his grandfather and father in this institution during its first century actually gave them somewhat the role of Director.
The observatory did not have a recognised Director until 1771, before that each member could do as they pleased.[17] Sometimes Giovanni Cassini (1671–1712) and Jacques Cassini (1712–1756) are listed as "Directors" retrospectively. The same goes for François Arago, who also was not actually a Director although he did have a de facto position of leadership and is often credited as such.
The current President of the Observatory is Fabienne Casoli.[18]
|
|
Facilities
The first site was the Paris headquarters established in 1667 by King Louis XIV of France. This facility had various work done on it over the centuries, and in 1927 the Meudon Observatory was added, which included a new site and facilities. It was built in 1891.
In addition to these sites, the Marseilles Observatory became a branch of the Paris Observatory in 1863.[19] In 1873, Marseilles Observatory detached from Paris Observatory.[20]
Paris
King Louis XIV purchased the land for his new observatory in March 1667.[21] This provided a site for the activities of the Academy of Sciences near to the city of Paris.[21] The original buildings was designed by Claude Perrault.[22] A dome and terrace was added in 1847.[22]
Meudon
The Meudon site was constructed in the late 19th century by
- Solar Observatory Tower Meudon
- Chateau de Meudon
- LESIA space and astrophysics instrumentation research laboratory[23]
Nançay
After the Second World War, French astronomers began designing and building instruments for radio astronomy.[24] A field station was established in 1953, and by the late 1950s several radio instruments were established.[24] In 1965 the
Saint-Véran
Also known as the Observatoire du Pic de Château Renard, the
Nowadays, the AstroQueyras amateur astronomy association operates the facility, using a 60 cm (24 in) telescope on loan from the
Instruments past and present
Early telescopes were supplied by the famed craftsman Giuseppe Campani.[27] Cassini, an astronomer who worked in the early days of the Observatory, had used Campani's telescopes in the 1660s, and continued to do so when he moved to the Paris Observatory.[28]
The Marly tower, moved to the observatory in 1685 for mounting telescopes, was demolished in 1705.[29] The Marly tower was originally made for the Versailles water supply system (see Machine de Marly), but was moved to the southern gardens area near the Paris Observatory.[30] The tower could hold the objective lens for extremely long focal length aerial telescopes.[30]
In 1732 a quadrant instrument made by Langlois was established at the Observatory.[31]
In 1804 a telescope of 8.4 cm aperture, made by Bellet, was established on the roof of the observatory.
One of the special telescopes in the collection of the observatory, was the Passy telescope of King Louis XV.[32] This telescope was built by Dom Noel in the late 18th century, and was a reflecting telescope with a 61 cm aperture bronze mirror.[32] In 1805 the mirror was re-polished, but it was tarnished again within two years; it remained at the Observatory until it was dismantled in 1841.[33]
A Lerebours telescope of 24.4 cm aperture was installed in 1823, at a cost of 14,500 Francs.[34] In 1835 Arago used this telescope to observe the return of Halley's Comet that year.[34]
In 1837 the Gambey
In 1857 a refracting telescope of 38 centimetres (14.96 in) aperture objective, the Arago equatorial telescope, was completed. This telescope was proposed by director François Arago in 1846.[22] It was installed in the east tower and was made by Lerebours.[35] This instrument is known to have conducted photometry measurements of Jupiter's moons (there were only four known at that time) in the late 1880s.[35]
In 1863 a large
In 1875 a 120 cm aperture silver-on-glass reflecting telescope was built, for 400,000 francs[37] (the French unit of currency at that time).
This 120 cm diameter aperture telescope was a silvered glass mirror polished by Martin.[38] However, when it was mounted it was realized the gravity altered its shape because of the mirror's weight, thus causing an image quality issue.[38]
In 1886 a Henry astrograph with 13-inch objective was acquired.[35]
For the 1907 Transit of Mercury, some of the telescopes used at the Paris Observatory included:[33]
- Foucault-Eichens reflector (40 cm (16 in) aperture)
- Foucault-Eichens reflector (20 cm (7.9 in) aperture)
- Martin-Eichens reflector (40 cm (16 in) aperture)
- Several small refractors
The telescopes were mobile and were placed on the terrace for the observations.[33]
Meudon 83-cm Great Refractor
The Meudon
The Meudon refractor was built at
See also
- Bureau des Longitudes
- List of astronomical observatories
- List of largest optical refracting telescopes
References
- ISSN 0003-9810.
- ^ ]
- ^ "Paris Observatory – Observatoire de Paris – PSL Centre de recherche en astronomie et astrophysique". www.obspm.fr. Retrieved 2019-11-19.
- ISBN 9789048124732.
- ^ a b "The Paris Observatory". l'Observatoire de Paris. Archived from the original on 2007-08-24. Retrieved 2007-08-27.
- ^ Guinot (2000)
- ^ Wolf, Charles (1827–1918) Auteur du texte (1902). Histoire de l'Observatoire de Paris, de sa fondation à 1793 / par C. Wolf,... Paris: Gauthier-Villars. pp. 1–12.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ King, Peter (1858). The Life and Letters of John Locke. London: Henry Bohn. p. 73.
- ^ [Anon.] (2001) "Perrault, Claude", Encyclopædia Britannica, Deluxe CDROM edition
- ^ [Anon.] (2001) "Paris Observatory", Encyclopædia Britannica, Deluxe CDROM edition
- ^ [Anon.] (2001) "Prouvé, Jean", Encyclopædia Britannica, Deluxe CDROM edition
- ^ ISBN 9781615925667.
- ISSN 1476-4687.
- ^ "Paris Time By Wireless," New York Times, Nov 22, 1913, pg 1.
- ^ Calames
- ^ Archives nationales, O1 117, fol. 991–993. See also Charles Wolf, Histoire de l'Observatoire de Paris de sa fondation à 1793, Paris : Gauthier-Villars, 1902, p. 194 and following.
- Bibcode:1971JBAA...81..479F.
- ^ "Fabienne Casoli élue Présidente de l'Observatoire de Paris – PSL – Observatoire de Paris – PSL Centre de recherche en astronomie et astrophysique". www.obspm.fr. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
- ISBN 9781461455653.
- ISSN 0003-2670.
- ^ Bibcode:1971JBAA...81..479F.
- ^ ISSN 0004-6302.
- . 2005-06-30. Retrieved 2008-08-03.
- ^ Bibcode:2010JAHH...13...29L.
- ISBN 978-0-521-57350-4.
- ^ "L'Observatoire du Pic de Château Renard (2900 m)". Histoire (in French). l'Observatoire de Paris. Archived from the original on 2007-09-15. Retrieved 2007-08-27.
- ISBN 978-0-521-54205-0.
- ISBN 978-90-04-21150-6.
- ^ "A short Story of Paris Observatory – Histoire de l'Observatoire de Paris". sites.google.com. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
- ^ ISBN 978-3-319-07614-0.
- ISBN 978-0-486-43265-6.
- ^ ISBN 978-3-319-20723-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4614-5565-3.
- ^ ISBN 978-3-319-20723-0.
- ^ ISBN 9781351954525.
- ISBN 9781136508349.
- ^ Observatory, United States Naval (1891). Astronomical and Meteorological Observations Made at the United States Naval Observatory During the Year ... U.S. Government Printing Office.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-108-03773-0.
- ^ a b "UNESCO Astronomy and World Heritage Webportal – Home". www3.astronomicalheritage.net. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
- ^ "UNESCO Astronomy and World Heritage Webportal – Home".
Bibliography
- [Anon.] (2001) "Paris Observatory", Encyclopædia Britannica, Deluxe CDROM edition
- Aubin, D. (2003). "The fading star of the Paris Observatory in the nineteenth century: astronomers' urban culture of circulation and observation". Osiris. 18: 79–100.
- Guinot, B. (2000). "History of the Bureau International de l'Heure". Polar Motion: Historical and Scientific problems. pp. 175–184. Bibcode:2000ASPC..208..175G.
- Widemann, T., Knobloch, E. (2022). "Aux origines d'une science et d'une sociabilité européennes: l'Observatoire de Paris à 350 ans", 'Archives Internationales d'Histoire des sciences, Vol. 72, N°189, 2022 ISBN 978-2-503-59736-2 [2]
External links
- Paris Observatory (official site, in English)
- Location in Paris
- Inventory of astronomy heritage
- Digital library for astronomy archives
- Publications of the Observatoire de Paris in BnF(in French)