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THE EXHIBITIONS |
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The
observation room The Observation room. Photo: Helen Pohl Wargentin was an active participant in the European cooperation between astronomers. In the 1760s the planet Venus passed twice between theearth and the sun and could be observed as a small dark spot on the surface of the sun. Wargentin organized the Swedish astronomical observations of this phenomenon, and arranged for observations to be carried out from different places covering the whole country from Lund in the south to Torneå in the north. On the day of this very special occasion Wargentin settled down in front of his telescope in the new Stockholm Observatory, and observed the transit of Venus in the company of the queen, the crown prince, a number of diplomats and many others. In his observation diary he writes: "On this day, the 6th of June, eagerly awaited by all astronomers, I made successful observations of this rare phenomenon, the transit of Venus. Present were Her Majesty the Queen, the Crown Prince, a great number of the councillors and foreign ambassadors and a possibly too large crowd of spectators of both sexes and of all estates. The sky was almost as favourable to observations as could be desired. The celebrated mathematician Mr. Klingenstierna assisted me in my observations, his gaze fixed at the sun through his new Dollondian 10-foot tube with its middle eye-piece, which shows the objects almost twice as large as mine does and at the same time sharper." |
Wargentin's study >> Old meridian room >> Weather room >> Observation room >> Clock room >> New meridian room >> The Cabinet of Naturalia >> |
| Moreover, Mr. Wilcke attempted to make observations with a 2-foot reflecting telescope, Mr. C Lehnberg with a 9-foot tube and the Right Honourable Baron Seth with a 5-foot tube, excellent in its way. But owing to the din of the spectators these gentlemen who found themselves in another room of the Observatory had great difficulty in hearing the voice of Mr. Gadolin as he called out the minutes and seconds as shown on the clock. |   |
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OBSERVATORIEMUSEETDrottninggatan 120 113 60 Stockholm Tel: 08-54548390, Fax: 08-54548395 |
 The museum is run by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. |