A letter to the Jo’burg Centre

To:            STEWART, Chris
Subject:     Franklin-Adams camera
From:        Jan Hers janhers@pixie.co.za
Subject:     Franklin-Adams camera
Date:         08 March 2002 04:51

Hello Chris,

It was nice to read something about the old Franklin-Adams camera and the forthcoming centenary.

But the first sentence might perhaps give a wrong impression. The instrument certainly did not spend all its life at " the southern station of the Leiden Observatory at Broederstroom". That would rather be putting the cart before the horse!

After it had been built ( in 1902? I have no information about that ) it was first used for mapping the northern sky and then sent down to the Cape to continue the work in the south. When in 1909 it was probably felt that the Transvaal would be a much better place than Cape Town, the instrument was donated to the new Transvaal Observatory, and for the first year or so the mapping of the southern sky was continued, after which it was wholly used by the Johannesburg Observatory. But I am sure you have all the details about that.

In later years, when it was realised that the work was increasingly hampered by the JHB city lights and smoke, thoughts went towards finding a new and better site, and when it was found that the Dept. of Education, Arts and Science owned a farm near Hartbeespoort Dam this seemed to offer an ideal solution, thus overcoming the problem without having to buy a new site. The Franklin-Adams telescope was moved to the Hartbeespoort site in August 1954.

When the Leiden people, who for some years had been guests in the Observatory grounds in JHB, heard about this they asked whether they too might be permitted to make use of the Hartbeespoort site, and this was approved. So they moved their twin Rockefeller telescope to the new site as well. The new "Leiden Southern Station" was opened in August 1957.

However, the Leiden Observatory at no time owned the site, they were always guests on what was known as the Hartbeespoort Annexe of the Union (later: Republic) Observatory.

Originally it was planned to use the HBP site for installing our projected large reflecting telescope, but after having a good look at the region, I thought there was no future in that, we would never be away from the town lights. And what you write about it, proves that I was quite correct. It is sad to see all this residential development, but there is nothing one can do about it. And that was how we came to look at an altogeter different part of the country. But that is another story!

Just one other matter: some common misprints in Canopus: Hartbeespoort, Hartbeeshoek --- ONE 'a' please. And Colesberg, NOT Colesburg, it is called after the mountain.

Kind regards,

Jan.