Object Details
- Description
- In an effort to get a better fix on the distance between the Earth and the Sun, the United States sponsored eight parties to observe the 1874 transit of Venus across the face of the sun, and equipped each with apparatus made by Alvan Clark & Sons. This 5-inch aperture achromatic lens in a brass cell was probably the objective for one of the eight equatorial refractors. The inscription on the cell reads “857”. This was sent to Peking for the 1874 transit.
- Ref: Simon Newcomb, ed., Observations of the Transit of Venus, December 8-9, 1874 (Washington, D.C., 1880), p. 16.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- maker
- Alvan Clark & Sons
- date made
- 1874
- Measurements
- overall: 1 1/2 in x 6 3/16 in; 3.81 cm x 15.748 cm
- overall: 1 1/2 in x 6 in; 3.81 cm x 15.24 cm
- Object Name
- telescope objective lens
