File talk:HerschelTelescope.jpg
Letter from man who made the telescope[edit]
Hello Mike,
I just came across your photo of the Herschel 7ft telescope in the Wiki article on Uranus.
The caption "Replica of the telescope with which Herschel discovered Uranus." is slightly misleading.
I built that replica in 1980/1981 for display in the William Herschel Museum in Bath.
I was privileged to visit the home of Eileen Shorland (nee Herschel and great great granddaughter of William) at Warfield and measure the 7ft that is still in the family.
I was allowed to dismantle it and measure the parts that would be inaccessible in a museum exhibit.
Almost every surviving 7ft has been described as the discovery telescope, but it is certain that the instrument did not survive. Some years later Herschel refers to using an excellent 7ft mirror used in the discovery in a new stand.
Also consider the drawing by William Watson in 1783 here
Herschel was during that period continually developing his apparatus, and the one illustrated by Watson appears much simpler in construction than any of the surviving instruments in that there are no secret mortice and tenon joints, and the gearing on the altitude fine motion is external, not enclosed as in the later instruments.
Herschel often refers to workmen hired to make stands an so on and I would suggest that the Herschel Shorland telescope that survived in Observatory House was probably made by a joiner or cabinet maker in the vicinity of Windsor/Slough.
Your excellent photo which I have seen used elsewhere can be identified by the protruberance on the right hand side of the tall right upright member above the tube that is not part of the instrument. In addition you have trimmed off the castors that should just be partly visible though may be confused with the heavily patterned carpet.
I doubt I have the wit to embark on a Wiki edit, but thought you might find these observations interesting.
Best regards
Michael Tabb
Bath
