Armagh Observatory is an astronomical

research institute A research institute, research centre, or research organization is an establishment founded for doing research. Research institutes may specialize in basic research or may be oriented to applied research. Although the term often implies natural ...

Armagh Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. Around 25 astronomers are based at the observatory, studying stellar astrophysics, the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...

astronomy and Earth's

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

. In 2018, Armagh Observatory was recognized for having 224 years of unbroken weather records.

History

The Observatory is located close to the centre of the city of Armagh, adjacent to the Armagh Planetarium in approximately of landscaped grounds known as the Armagh Astropark. It was founded in 1789 by The Most Rev. and Rt Hon. The 1st Baron Rokeby,

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

Lord Primate of All Ireland and Lord Archbishop of Armagh. In 1795 through 1797 Solar observations were made at Armagh, including measurements of

sunspot Sunspots are temporary spots on the Sun's surface that are darker than the surrounding area. They are one of the most recognizable Solar phenomena and despite the fact that they are mostly visible in the solar photosphere they usually aff ...

s. Ernst Julius Öpik (grandfather of Lembit Öpik MP) was based here for over 30 years and among his many contributions to astrophysics he wrote of the dangers of an asteroid impacting on the Earth. One of the observatory's directors, Thomas Romney Robinson invented the cup anemometer, a device for measuring wind speed. A plan was announced in 1949 to establish an Armagh Planetarium. After many years work the Planetarium opened in 1968, its first director was

Patrick Moore Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore (; 4 March 1923 – 9 December 2012) was an English amateur astronomer who attained prominence in that field as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter. Moore's early interest in astro ...

. It celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018. In 2018, the observatory was given an award by Centennial Weather Station Award from the World Meteorological Organisation for 224 years of unbroken weather recordings. The records go back to 1794 and are also made available on the internet in the early 21st century. In modern times the Observatory along with the nearby Planetarium and 14-acre Astropark are noted tourist attraction and education centre. The gardens, historical telescopes, and various astronomically related devices such as sundials are among some of the exhibits for visitors. In 2025, the Irish Historic Astronomical Observatories, consisting of Dunsink Observatory, Birr Castle and Armagh Observatory, were added to the World Heritage Tentative List, a step towards becoming a

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Facilities

There are scale models of the Solar System and the Universe, two sundials and historic telescopes, as well as telescope domes and other outdoor exhibits. The Human Orrery, launched in 2004, is located close to the main Observatory building. The Observatory's specialist library and archives, and collections of scientific instruments and artefacts associated with the development of modern astronomy, represent one of the leading collections of its kind in the

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Instruments

A 2½ inch aperture refracting telescope by J & E Troughton was installed in a dome in 1795. The telescope was manufactured in London, and is noted for its late 18th century

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

metal work. It is also known the Troughton Equatorial Telescope, for having an

equatorial mount An equatorial mount is a mount for instruments that compensates for Earth's rotation by having one rotational axis, called ''polar axis'', parallel to the Earth's axis of rotation. This type of mount is used for astronomical telescope mount, tel ...

ing. The observatory has an Earnshaw Regulator. It is an accurate type of clock invented in 1791 by Thomas Earnshaw. Earnshaw travelled with it to Armagh to set it up in the new Observatory. In the early 1800s it was reported to have a mural circle instrument. Another instrument at the observatory is a sunshine recorder. In the 1830s the observatory bought a 15-inch reflecting telescope from the Grubb Telescope Company. The telescope used a speculum metal mirror mounted on an equatorial mount with clockwork-drive. In 1885, a ten-inch aperture refracting telescope was installed, also by Grubb. This was installed in the Robinson dome. Meridian marks can be found in the vicinity of the observatory, these look like stone arches, but were used to mark the location of the north-south line for the astronomical instruments. There is also another one in the form of an iron obelisk. The first meridian mark was built in 1793, and is in Tullyard, and it was used with the transit instrument. In 2005, two wide-angle cameras for a meteor detection systems were installed.

Research

The records of temperature take at Armagh Observatory between 1844 and 2004 were analyzed in 2006 research paper.

List of directors

References

External links

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A Visit to Armagh Observatory
AAVSO {{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1789 Astronomical observatories in Northern Ireland

Observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Th ...

Tourist attractions in County Armagh Science museums in Northern Ireland Grade A listed buildings 1789 establishments in Ireland Research institutes in the United Kingdom Astronomy institutes and departments World Heritage Tentative List