Lord Rosse's Monster Telescopes

Troy McLuhan, of space science in Second Life fame, has produced another display. I should declare a little interest here: I consulted with Troy on creating and populating a database so he can track usage. I rather suspect the hours I put in are appreciably less than 1% of the overall hours, quite possibly less than 0.1%.

There are two telescopes, virtually duplicating the pair built by the real Lord Rosse in Parsonstown, now Birr, Ireland.


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This is the smaller, 36" reflector, which could freely rotate.

The larger, 72" reflector nicknamed The Leviathan was constrained to a largely North-South rotation by the large walls beside the tube.

Lord Rosse used these to hunt down unknown objects in the night sky, at that time all called nebulae, but now containing a mixture of nebulae and galaxies - indeed he was the first person to see a spiral galaxy and describe it.

Although you can wander around, and hopefully wonder at, the exhibit, there is a flying carpet with audio tour that costs a token L$300 per person (you can have 1 or 2 people ride on the carpet) which is also well worth taking in my opinion. This tour also animates various features of the two telescopes, which is a joy to see in and of itself.


There is more information available on all those involved and the science from the plot in Second Life at Science Lands, 154, 25