Hersches’s Giant
Location: Surat
Working Principle of the exhibit
Historical background: The construction of the great 40-foot telescope with 48 inches diameter mirror, was the most challenging project of William Herschel. It was constructed between 1785-1789, with the assistance of his sister Caroline Herschel, in Slough, England.
Herschel used to climb into the mouth of the huge tube and searched for the focus. Unfortunately, very few celestial objects listed in Herschel’s catalogue were actually discovered by this one. Enceladus and Mimas --- the 6th and 7th moon of Saturn were probably discovered by this telescope. Though this was not proved to be substantial compared to the other small telescopes of Herschel but the remnant of it remains a lasting icon to a bygone era of observational astronomy.
Mode of display:
A scaled-down model (1:2) of Herschel’s 40 feet telescope has been developed by CMD and installed at Science Centre Surat, Surat.
