Cooke's Tale 4

　When the war ended on August 15, 1945, the Cooke telescope remained asleep in its distorted dome.

　In 1950, Mr. Akira Katayama was appointed to the Kobe Marine Observatory (renamed from Marine Observatory in 1942). Since he had majored in astronomy, he thought that it would be possible to use the Cooke telescope somehow. So he asked Nishimura Seisakusho in Kyoto to restore the dome. As a result, they were able to move the dome and slit, although it took two people. The Cooke telescope was now ready for use, and Mr. Katayama conducted research on "stellar scintillation and turbulence in the upper atmosphere. For the past seven years, the Cooke telescope had been awake. However, after Mr. Katayama was transferred to the Tokyo District Meteorological Observatory, the telescope spent ten years asleep in its closed dome until it was transferred to Kobe City.

　On February 2, 1958, an article like the one in the photo appeared in the evening edition of the Kobe Shimbun. In the morning edition of the same day, there was an article about the successful launch of an American satellite. The article about the Cooke telescope was as follows.

　Thirty-seven years after its birth, the telescope is standing there looking exhausted. There was a time when it was very active in tracking the sun, but now the roof of the dome doesn't open much and the telescope sleeps in the dim light. But now the dome roof is not so open, and the telescope sits in the dim light. "Why don't we do something about it? The fact that the telescope, which was once surrounded by glory, is now showing its shabby appearance in the space age arouses the affection of those involved. The 10-inch refracting telescope at the Kobe Oceanographic and Meteorological Observatory may be able to find its light again. The world has changed. The direct work of the meteorological observatory is not related to the telescope, and neither the staff nor the budget goes to it. We were so busy with the restoration of the meteorological observatory, which was destroyed in the war, and with the equipment directly needed for weather forecasting, that the telescope was forgotten. They are only used when lunar and solar eclipses are visible, and are already useless on the front lines. However, it is still one of the five largest refracting telescopes in Japan, behind only the 26-inch (65cm) telescopes of observatories such as Mitaka and Hanayama. I can't say that it is one of the "top five" telescopes because it has been left without repair, but it is sometimes laughed at as one of the "big five" in terms of size. Those involved in the project are wondering if there is any way to put the telescope to good use.

　The telescope slept in the dome for 25 years until 1967, when the decision was made to transfer it to Kobe City.

(References)

Chasing the Sun Again, Kobe City Board of Education Telescope Elementary History Editorial Committee, Kobe Shimbun Publishing Center, 1984

February 2, 1958, Kobe Shimbun Evening Edition, Kobe Shimbun, 1958