The Cooke Siderostat

The siderostat, originally by Thomas Cooke in about 1880, is a device that drives a mirror so that light from the Sun can be passed through a hole in the wall of a nearby building and along an optical bench. Pieces of this instrument were found discarded under bushes when clearance work was undertaken in 1990. Other parts were found in boxes of assorted "junk" returned by Exeter University. Missing pieces have been improvised to make the instrument work, but further restoration is needed.

The assistance of the Borthwick Institute, York University, is acknowledged in giving the observatory details allowing the pieces to be re-assembled and made part of a working instrument. Of course, the obvious recent inventions, using bicycle parts and an electric drive to replace missing parts, became necessary to ensure that the principle of the device could be demonstrated. As a telescope it will be easily accessible for any wheel-chaired disabled person to use as it does not involve the climbing of step ladders. Most of the major work was completed by 1997, but has been temporarily suspended to make space for experiments in radio astronomy. The current proposal permits completion of this project when radio astronomy finds space in the main building.