6-448: Groombridge Transit Circle was a meridian transit circle made by Edward Troughton for the English astronomer Stephen Groombridge in 1806, which Groombridge used to compile data for the star catalogue , Catalogue of Circumpolar Stars . The advantage of a transit circle over a mural circle (which can measure polar distances) is that it allows measuring right ascension and declination at
12-546: A Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1822. In 1826, after John's death and in failing health himself, he took on William Simms as a partner and the firm became known as Troughton & Simms . Troughton was involved in a lawsuit against Sir James South , who was dissatisfied with the quality of an equatorial mounting that Troughton made for him. Troughton sued for payment, and with informal legal counsel provided by Richard Sheepshanks , he prevailed. Troughton
18-716: The 21st century also). He created the Groombridge Transit Circle in 1806, which Stephen Groombridge used to compile his star catalogue . He did not merely build instruments, but designed and invented new ones. Troughton was awarded the Copley Medal of the Royal Society in 1809. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in March 1810, a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1817, and
24-403: The same time. It had an aperture of 3.5 inches and a 5-foot focal length, mounted inside two 4 foot circles on stone piers. Groombridge used the instrument to determine the positions of over 4000 circumpolar stars . It was eventually bought by James South , and it remained at his observatory at Kensington until 1870. Edward Troughton Edward Troughton (October 1753 – 12 June 1835)
30-665: The top maker of navigational , surveying and astronomical instruments in Britain . They were based at 136 Fleet Street in central London. Their shop was called the "Sign of the Orrery ". In 1795 he delivered what is now known as the Troughton Equatorial telescope to the Armagh Observatory , a 2-inch aperture refractor telescope mounted equatorially , and its first major instrument since its founding in 1790 (It survived into
36-524: Was a British instrument maker who was notable for making telescopes and other astronomical instruments. Troughton was born at Corney , Cumberland , the youngest of six children to Francis Troughton, a husbandman on a farm, and his wife, Mary Stable. Originally raised to tend animals, Edward went to London in 1773. He then served an apprenticeship with his uncle, John Troughton (b.c.1716) alongside his elder brother, also John Troughton, and in 1779 he became his business partner and soon established himself as
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