The Craig telescope was a large telescope built in the 1850s, and while much larger than previous refracting telescopes, it had some problems that hampered its use. Its unique design and potential caused a great deal of excitement in its day. The telescope was ready in August 1852 and was visited by William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, famous for the Leviathan of Parsonstown, a reflecting telescope and the largest telescope of this age with a six foot mirror. It was the largest refracting telescope (a telescope with a lens) in the world from 1852 to 1857, erected near London, England. It was a great refractor, a large refracting telescope with an achromatic doublet with an aperture of 61 cm (2 feet or 24 inches) and was completed in 1852 on Wandsworth Common and dismantled around 1857 (although the brick tower probably survived until 1870). It had a focal length of 76–83 feet. It was named after the Rev. John Craig, who spent a small fortune on it, producing a uniquely designed telescope with nearly double the aperture of the next largest refracting telescopes, making it the largest refracting telescope in the World for the better part of a decade. However, it had a problem with its lens figuring starting from its first light in the summer of 1852. It soon fell into disuse as that same year Craig lost his only son, then his wife in 1854, and lost his brother and was put in jail for 6 weeks in 1856. More information...
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