A late 19th century view of the Leviathan of Parsonstown, or Rosse six-foot telescope, a historic reflecting telescope of 72 inches ( m) aperture, which was the largest telescope in the world from 1845 until 1917. It was built by William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse on his estate, Birr Castle, at Parsonstown, Birr, County Offaly, Ireland. The six-foot telescope remained in use until about 1890, then after the death of the 4th Earl in 1908, the telescope was partly dismantled with one of the mirrors with its mirror box was transferred to the Science Museum in London.


A late 19th century view of the Leviathan of Parsonstown, or Rosse six-foot telescope, a historic reflecting telescope of 72 inches ( m) aperture, which was the largest telescope in the world from 1845 until 1917. It was built by William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse on his estate, Birr Castle, at Parsonstown, Birr, County Offaly, Ireland. The six-foot telescope remained in use until about 1890, then after the death of the 4th Earl in 1908, the telescope was partly dismantled with one of the mirrors with its mirror box was transferred to the Science Museum in London. The walls remained and the telescope was reconstructed in 1997.


Size: 4701px × 3690px
Location: Birr, County Offaly, Ireland
Photo credit: © De Luan / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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