Alternative names | Great Rosse |
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Named after | Leviathan |
Location(s) | Birr Castle, Birr, County Offaly, Leinster, Ireland |
Coordinates | 53°05′48″N 7°55′03″W / 53.0967722°N 7.9175782°W |
Observing time | 60 nights per year |
Built | 1842–1846 |
First light | 15 February 1845 |
Telescope style | astronomical observatory Newtonian telescope |
Diameter | 72 inches (183 cm) |
Focal length | 16 m (52 ft 6 in) |
Mounting | altazimuth mount |
Website | birrcastle |
Related media on Commons | |
Leviathan of Parsonstown, or Rosse six-foot telescope, is a historic reflecting telescope of 72 inches (1.83 m) aperture, which was the largest telescope in the world from 1845 until the construction of the 100-inch (2.5 m) Hooker Telescope in California in 1917. The Rosse six-foot telescope was built by William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse on his estate, Birr Castle, at Parsonstown (now Birr) in Ireland.[1]