Not yet. It could be the base of a telescope doom but I will need to find any Observatory's record to confirm this or otherwise. Furthermore we know that there was a room attached to the main building for housing the transit telescope for providing time service. This circular structure should be something else.
We are now pretty sure that the round structure was the housing for the 6-inch Lee Equatorial telescope used by the Hong Kong Observatory in its early days. The Lee Equatorial was borrowed from the Royal Greenwich Observatory and used by the HKO between 1888 and 1914 before returning to RGO. It now resides in the UK Science Museum (http://collectionsonline.nmsi.ac.uk/detail.php?t=objects&type=all&f=&s=telescope+transit+venus&record=6).
Correspondence for the loan of the Lee Equatorial telescope was made between 1883 and 1884. According to the HKO 1885 archive, the telscope was erected in a separate building in early 1885. This gives a clue to the possible date of the photo.
Although the telescope was returned in 1914, the HKO 1914 archive mentioned that it had been dismounted many years previously.
Comments
Any idea what the round
Any idea what the round structure is in the foreground?
Regards, David
Re. Any idea what the round structure is
Not yet. It could be the base of a telescope doom but I will need to find any Observatory's record to confirm this or otherwise. Furthermore we know that there was a room attached to the main building for housing the transit telescope for providing time service. This circular structure should be something else.
CM
The Round Structure
We are now pretty sure that the round structure was the housing for the 6-inch Lee Equatorial telescope used by the Hong Kong Observatory in its early days. The Lee Equatorial was borrowed from the Royal Greenwich Observatory and used by the HKO between 1888 and 1914 before returning to RGO. It now resides in the UK Science Museum (http://collectionsonline.nmsi.ac.uk/detail.php?t=objects&type=all&f=&s=telescope+transit+venus&record=6).
Re: Round Structure
Correspondence for the loan of the Lee Equatorial telescope was made between 1883 and 1884. According to the HKO 1885 archive, the telscope was erected in a separate building in early 1885. This gives a clue to the possible date of the photo.
Although the telescope was returned in 1914, the HKO 1914 archive mentioned that it had been dismounted many years previously.
Re: Round Structure
Thanks for updating us on your findings.
I note that the UK National Archive have a copy of this photo:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalarchives/7838626832/
It is from a book of photos published in 1897 to commemorate Queen Victoria's jubilee. I've updated the date for the photo.
Here is a slightly larger view of the round structure:
Regards, David