Great Melb Telescope

Inside & beyond @museumsvictoria, a team of staff & volunteers are focussed to restore Australia's first giant telescope. Tweets by curator @tildsvaughan

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

The significance of the Great Melbourne #Telescope to Australian #astronomy and science (the largest object in @museumsvictoria Science & Measurement collection) is being preserved through its heritage restoration, and future display & operation📽️ https://t.co/mZHJDXnEji

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

You can find out more about the 1916 BSA Model K motorcycle (and photos!) in @museumsvictoria transport collection here: https://t.co/SqK4WEr5mb #TransportHistory #MotorcycleHistory

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

Our original speculum #GMTMirror has a new view. And a new sign 😉The mirror is currently reflecting part of @museumsvictoria transport collection. You can see the 1951 Triumph Thunderbird motorcycle on the lower level & 1916 BSA Model K above it. #MuseumCollections #MuseumSigns

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

You can find out more about the 1951 Triumph Thunderbird motorcycle (and photos!) in @museumsvictoria transport collection here: https://t.co/glY1gIDPyV #TransportHistory #MotorcycleHistory

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

Doesn't time fly! This app has told us that we sent our #FirstTweet from this account OTD 10 years ago! Of course it featured our 19thC speculum mirror. Currently in storage, but it's been on display twice since then, silently reflecting the people & objects that pass by 🔭👀

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

Work continues on fitting parts to the telescope’s Right Ascension Fine Control. Guided by historic photos including one showing the system leaning up against a pillar in Grubb’s Dublin Workshop in 1868 #HeritageRestoration

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

The new gunmetal bevel gears for the Right Ascension Fine Control of the telescope have been fitted to the Polar Axis Drive. They look shiny and work beautifully with their authentic cycoidal tooth profile 🔭👀

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

New gunmetal bevel gears are fitted for the fine control of the right ascension drive - and they work so smoothly, complete with their authentic 19th century cycloidal tooth profile🔭👀

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

This icon of our world's scientific heritage has had generous support from donors to get it to this stage. But to get it moving, we need help. If you love our scientific heritage & want to contribute, we'd love to hear from you 🔭👀#HeritageRestoration
https://t.co/NPnM7PryhB

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

The significance of the Great Melbourne #Telescope to Australian #astronomy and science (the largest object in @museumsvictoria Science & Measurement collection) is being preserved through its heritage restoration, and future display & operation📽️ https://t.co/mZHJDXnEji

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

Shiny things! The Tuesday GMT restoration team received a delivery of new gunmetal gears, designed with the cycloidal tooth profile typical of 19thC machines. Keeping the mechanical operation of the telescope's movement system as authentic as possible #HeritageRestoration 🔭👀

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

The retrieval of fire-affected 19thC remains was achieved in Nov 2008. Those parts would be assessed & later rejoin the unwanted parts (from an earlier Mt Stromlo upgrade) that had already been collected by the museum in 1984. And 21stC #telescope restoration project began...

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

It's 20 years since the horrific & tragic bushfires ripped through Canberra & Mt Stromlo Observatory, leaving behind the burnt remains of the Great Melbourne #telescope, amongst all the devastation. A pause to remember our restoration project origins. https://t.co/U8qmxYY1lk

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

Farewell to 2022. Hello 2023. Here's a 1 minute review of the past year from our Project Manager Simon, showing some of the faces who worked on the Great Melbourne Telescope restoration and the things they did. Looking forward to continuing the good work in 2023 and beyond 🔭👀

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

@MuseoAstroUnipd @DFAUnipd @sydneyobs @RoyalAstroSoc The photograph shows Great Melbourne Telescope assembled for testing in Grubb’s Dublin workshop prior to being packed & shipped to Australia in 1869. Note the difference in the Polar Axis angle between Dublin & Melbourne.

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

@MuseoAstroUnipd @DFAUnipd @sydneyobs @RoyalAstroSoc The photograph shows Great Melbourne Telescope assembled for testing in Grubb’s Dublin workshop prior to being packed & shipped to Australia in 1869. Note the difference in the Polar Axis angle between Dublin & Melbourne.

[MuseoAstronomiaUnipd @MuseoAstroUnipd]

In foto il @GMT21stC costruito nel 1868 da Thomas Grubb, grande quanto il telescopio “Galileo” di Asiago ma con quasi il doppio degli anni, all’epoca era il secondo telescopio più grande al mondo dopo il Leviatano di Parsonstown. @DFAUnipd @sydneyobs
©️ @museumsvictoria

[MuseoAstronomiaUnipd @MuseoAstroUnipd]

In the photo the @GMT21stC built in 1868 by Thomas Grubb, as big as the "Galileo" of Asiago but almost twice as old, it was at the time the second largest telescope in the world after the Leviathan of Parsonstown. @DFAUnipd @sydneyobs
©️ @RoyalAstroSoc

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

@Astro_yyz Hi Katrina, the new mirrors are expected to be completed in Oct 2022 and expected to arrive at the Scienceworks Engineering workshop sometime early 2023. The mechanical & optical restoration is expected to be completed in mid-2026. 🔭👀

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

The history of our Great Melbourne telescope was written by Richard Gillespie, 2009. In his review, Fred Watson said, “extraordinary insights into the lives & times of both the telescope and the people who surrounded it, while setting its scientific importance firmly in context.”

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

A comprehensive reading list. The cover of Henry C. King’s “The history of the telescope” has an image of the Great Melbourne Telescope, currently under restoration.

[Thony Christie (he/his/him) @rmathematicus]

An review of books on the histories of telescopes, spectacles and optics in general
https://t.co/L9QNRoCN2g

[Great Melb Telescope @GMT21stC]

@astrogeoguy @Astro_yyz FBLOS (Fullum Brunet Large Optical Systems). Check out #NewGMTMirror hashtag for some more tweets showing progress 😊