Herschel
built a huge, 40 foot telescope in the garden of Observatory House
while he was living in Slough. You can see in pictures of the house
from the 1950s and 60s that there is a circular flower bed that marks
where the telescope once stood
Details of our model
Herschel decided he
needed to build his own telescopes when he realised that the telescopes
available to him just were not strong enough for his needs and the
ambitious tasks he set himself. Herschel's 40 foot telescope was the
largest he made - although the telescope he used for his discovery of
Uranus was a 7 foot telescope (also made by himself). In fact the 40
foot telescope was almost too big - because of its size it was
difficult to move and so not used very often.
Details of our
model
It was demolished in 1839 by William's son, John, after being damaged
in a storm. You can see some of the small parts that made up the large
telescope at Slough Museum.
back to exhibition
Detail of our model