Meridian circle at Dunecht Observatory, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. This instrument is a specialised type of transit instrument, used to measure the position of stars as they cross a meridian. This model was made by the telescope manufacturers Troughton and Simms. Dunecht Observatory was founded in 1871 by the Scottish astronomer James Ludovic Lindsay (1847-1913), the 26th Earl of Crawford. Lord Lindsay appointed David Gill (1843-1914) as the first director of the observatory. Observations were carried out here for almost 20 years until 1888, when Lord Lindsay donated the instruments to the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, to help avert its threatened closure.