Franklin-Adams Centenary Preview

In just a few short weeks, the historic Franklin-Adams telescope will achieve its century of existence at what was formerly the southern station of Leiden observatory, in Broederstroom. The last time this telescope was seriously used appears to be 1986, when a team of people ( including my late father in law, Frank von Maltitz ) manned it to photograph Halley’s Comet. Since then, it has essentially languished. In recognition of its soon-to-be birthday, Brian Fraser rallied the troops to clean it up. To this end, several of us pitched up on Sunday 17 Feb.

In my case, it was very much a mixed feelings situation. It was certainly nice to renew my acquaintance with the instruments and the site. However, seeing the extent to which the area has become built up, devastating the surroundings, was extremely dismaying. What was virgin bush not that long ago, has transmogrified into timeshare resorts, conference centers and houses; there is even a shopping center and a petrol station virtually next door. Doubtless the sky, while still better than in the city, has been seriously degraded. On the other hand, the grounds themselves are in some respects better maintained than they were in that golden era when the ASSA Johannesburg Centre was regularly enjoying their use as a dark-sky site.

As it happens, my relatively late arrival and the fact that the telescope itself has weathered well meant that there was little for me to do but take a few photos, chat to the group and enjoy a picnic lunch. In fact, it was all very mellow. Frans van Nieuwkerk and Melvyn Hannibal diligently exercised broom and vacuum cleaner, some metal polishing was performed. Needless to say, a fair degree of prognosticating occurred. All in all, the scope seems in good shape, needing only the odd minor mechanical attention, a lick of paint and the eviction of the mud-dauber wasp’s nest to be presentable. The grease has of course gone a bit dusty and therefore gungey. These sorts of things will be handled in the near future by students from the Pretoria Technikon, under the watchful eye of Louis Barendse of the ASSA Pretoria Centre. Louis has already done sterling work getting the other instrument on site ( the twin 16-inch Rockefeller telescope ) into shape, as well as performing invaluable work on the 60-inch at Boyden.

Soon you will read announcements of the celebration to be held at the observatory to honour the telescope and the people who used it to make history. You should make the effort to join us! In the meantime, here’s a sneak preview of what you will see.

Chris Stewart

Deciding what still needs doing to the historic Franklin-Adams.	Admiring the dolled-up Rockefeller ’scope.