The Great Telescope in Birr Castle's Demesne, County Offaly, Ireland
Image details
Contributor:
George Munday / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
2X0C4W5File size:
55.4 MB (3 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
5246 x 3690 px | 44.4 x 31.2 cm | 17.5 x 12.3 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
9 June 2007Location:
County Offaly, County Offaly, IrelandMore information:
Rising out of a wild flower meadow in County Offaly, the Great Telescope in Birr Castle's Demesne was once the largest telescope in the world, the amazing feat of astronomical engineering, designed and built by William Parsons, third Earl of Rosse in the 1840s, attracted admirers from Ireland, Britain and Europe to view the massive device. Using the telescope AKA ‘the Leviathan of Parsonstown’, the pioneering Earl discovered the spiral nature of some galaxies. Following his death in 1908, the telescope was dismantled until the mid 1980s, when the great-great-grandson of the third Earl of Rosse, Brendan Parsons, set about restoring the telescope to its original condition and once again Birr is a centre of astronomy. This image appears in "Irish Follies and Whimsical Architecture" by George Munday and published by O'Brien Press in Dublin.