This reflecting telescope was built by Sir William Herschel who gave it to his sister Caroline Herschel, his dedicated assistant and a celebrated astronomer in her own right. With it she discovered a total of eight comets during her long life. The telescope has a speculum mirror made of an alloy of copper and tin mounted in a tube seven feet long. The painted pine stand and tube is of the type William Herschel made before 1771 and is described by Caroline as being exactly like the one used by her brother when he discovered the planet Uranus in 1781. In 1822 Caroline took the telescope to Hanover and in 1840 she and John Herschel, William's son, presented it to the Royal Astronomical Society.

Inv. 1908-160