Dear Sir,
Yours very truly,
(Signed.)
Mr. G. Calver.
From The Rev. Jevon J. Muschamp Perry, M.A., F.R.A.S.
St. Paul’s Vicarage, Alnwick,
December 20th, 1879.
My Dear Sir,—I was very much interested in reading your account of the grinding and polishing of the 37″ speculum, in this week’s E. M., copied from the “Monthly Notices” of the R. A. S. Had I only the wealth of my neighbours, I would give you an order for the largest telescope you could construct. Every really good night gives me some fresh proof of the great excellence of the 6-1/2 in. For instance, on December 15th, I clearly and steadily saw Enceladus. I could not, of course, have recognized it had it not been that this month’s “Observatory” gave diagrams of the positions of the five inner sats. of Saturn, for 8 p.m. on every day of this month, and a careful search for Encel. was fully rewarded by a clear and steady view of it at that time in its proper place. On this feat the Rev. T. W. Webb warmly congratulated me, and said that he had seen Encel. with his 9-1/3″ “With,” but only when Saturn was hidden behind a bar. I saw it clearly in exactly its proper position without hiding the planet—power 400. I have also had several good views of Mr. Webb’s new nebula in Cygnus, and have sent him drawings of the field, which he confirms. I have also made some fine drawings of Jupiter and Mars. On December 12th, 11 p.m., I tackled σ 749 (in Taurus), a very difficult test for my aperture, only 0·8″, and perfectly split it with power 300. The night was superb. When you consider that the theoretical limit of dividing power for a 6-1/2″ is only 0·7″, I think I have done well to split a star 0·8″ in our climate.
Faithfully yours,