Tuesday April 24, 1894

Photoheliograph taken off the 28 inch. – Instrument rebalanced.

Frank Dyson, Chief Assistant

RH says..... There were several photoheliograph telescopes at Greenwich - used for photographying the sun, as the name suggests - but I'm not sure which one this was and how long it had been attached to the 28-inch telescope. An earlier entry shows that one Dallmeyer Photoheliograph was mounted on the roof of the New Physical Observatory, while the Thompson 9-inch photoheliograph was presumably still attached to the Merz 12.8 telescope in the Lassell Dome.

Monday January 29, 1894

The laying of Brookes’ electric main was commenced. M^r Henry H. Vincent (stage manager) & M^r H.P. Hall (artist) of the St James’ theatre called with reference to an Observatory scene in a new play. Showed Great Equatorial, Lassell & Astrographic Equatorial. The last seemed the most suitable.

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William Christie, Astronomer Royal8

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Rebekah Higgitt says.....

Here we find another use for large telescopes - inspiration for theatre design! A review of the "Brilliant First Night" of Henry Arthur Jones's "The Masequeraders" at St James's Theatre in Picadilly in April 1894 can be found online, a performance that was only marred by a "short and weak last act". Presumably it is only coincidence that it was this act that featured the telescope: "The last scene is laid in the observatory on Mont Saint Garidelli, in the Maritime Alps, near Nice. The room is dark, save for a shaft of moonlight which illuminates the large equatorial telescope in the inner room".