Index



Opening in 1924

Zeiss 130mm Telescope

Other Equipment

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Gifford Observatory History

Charles ("Uncle Charlie") Gifford

"Uncle Charlie" - Charles Gifford, with a soft "G" as in George - was an eminent and much loved Wellingtonian, who in the first three decades of the 20th century inspired thousands of the pupils he taught at Wellington College with his knowledge and love of astronomy. In addition, over several decades he regularly contributed astronomical articles to the "Evening Post" newspaper. He was also a notable mathematician, whose work was influential in establishing that the craters on the moon were due to meteoritic impact.

Gifford Memorial Observatory Opening in 1924

Gifford's enthusiasm and commitment ensured that an observatory was built mostly through voluntary labour and donated materials, and was shifted to its current site from its original site (now occupied by Wellington East Girls' College) in 1924. It is located between Wellington College (Dufferin St.), the Town Belt and Government House on land jointly occupied in trust by Wellington College and Wellington East Girls' College.
Photograph reproduced with permission from the Alexander Turnbull Library. Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand/Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Zeiss 130mm Refractor

Gifford Memorial Observatory in 1947 The Observatory housed an excellent 130mm diameter Zeiss refractor telescope with ancillary instrumentation including an astrograph (a specialised wide-field astronomical camera), photographic developing equipment, a spectrohelioscope (an instrument used to observe solar flares) and equipment designed for observing sunspots.

Other Equipment

Over subsequent years, various other items of equipment were added or replaced, including:

  • An electronically controlled motor drive to track the motion of the stars, which replaced the original clockwork drive. This was constructed and installed by Clive Rowe (then at the DSIR) in the mid-1960s
  • A photoelectric photometer system to measure the intensity of starlight was operated from the mid-1960s until early-1970s
  • A Zeiss "Contarex" 35mm reflex camera from the mid-1960s
  • A cemented two-element objective lens replaced the original air-spaced three-element lens (which was prone to water ingress) in 1972. The replacement lens was designed by Norman Rumsey and constructed by Gary Nankivell at the Physics and Engineering Laboratories of the DSIR.

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