The Jacobs Telescope is a 12 inch Newtonian long focus Telescope donated to the society by Gill Jacobs's father.

Eben van Zyl, Don Michie and Clive Winskill were the main builders of the observatory building and also moved the dome to its present location. The steel dome had to be cut in half to fit on the lorry to transport it. They then rewelded it and put on top of the observatory building. It was a huge undertaking including building the concrete pier for the Telescope and mounting the telescope thereon.

For the last couple of years it was not used and a sign was on the mount which said "Do not use the Telescope, the drive is faulty"'.

First I cleaned the observatory and the dome inside. The cobwebs were hanging like curtains. After that, I found that all the controls worked beautifully although it was nearly impossible to rotate the dome. There are 6 steel wheels running on a flat rail. I replaced all the bearings with new sealed bearings, and put large flat washers against the one side of the wheels to improve the thrust of the wheel against the bracket. The dome turns much better now but the whole structure is a bit skew due to the cutting and welding. The next step is to find a way to repair it so that the dome can be rotated with one hand and with the motor.

Six of the eight listed eyepieces are still in good condition in the safe. We will have to find the other two - it seems that they are being used on the Franklin-Adams Telescope. All the Trees around the observatory are cut down which opens up the horizon - but also increases the light pollution.

The building is sound and the Telescope in good order.

We really have magnificent equipment at the observatory.

Frans van Nieuwkerk
Curator of Instruments.