Sends best wishes for JH's journey to Cape. Regrets missing him at Bedford during Cambridge trip.
Showing 41–60 of 62 items
Sends best wishes for JH's journey to Cape. Regrets missing him at Bedford during Cambridge trip.
Meets Lord Bute at Oxford. Requests JH observe Gamma Virginis, Castor, and Polaris with WS's 10-ft. achromatic telescope.
Suggests Moyes Publishing Company to JH. Observes Encke's Comet. Visited by W. R. Hamilton and John Russell.
Sights bright patch on moon; asks JH to confirm the observation.
Unable to spot Biela's Comet. Outstanding observing conditions allow WS to sight normally difficult objects. Makes suggestions concerning JH's rotating roof plans.
Sends observations of the double stars, which JH had suggested.
Reports conflicting observations of Gamma Virginis. Uses JH's method of measuring double star positions.
Very impressed after meeting W. R. Dawes and discussing double stars with him. Asks JH to send Gamma Virginis observations from Cape.
Describes voyage to Cape as being uneventful. 20-ft. reflector operating since late February; has already examined much of the southern sky. Believes the Milky Way is not equidistant from the earth at all points; and that the earth is between Canopus and Alpha Centauri. Amazed at clusters such as Omega Centauri. Describes richness of Magellanic Clouds. Details progress in erecting instruments. Sends observations of Alpha Crucis, which he believes is a double star.
Pleased that JH has received knighthood. Observes Alpha1 Capricorni in attempts to see a double star. Thanks JH for double star observation outlines; asks for a 'large supply' of them.
Sends micrometer observations of stars suggested by JH.
Adds clock to telescope, enhancing distance measuring power. Search for Halley's Comet begins. Reports double star data; observes nebulae in JH's Catalogue of Nebulae. R.A.S. location moved to Somerset House. Quarrel between James South and Richard Sheepshanks being arbitrated.
C. P. Smyth appointment as assistant to Thomas Maclear pleases JH. Suggests method of determining right ascension of double stars with collimating telescope. Sends brochure proposing worldwide meteorological observations.
Describes factors that led to C. P. Smyth's appointment to Cape. Uses rock crystal prism for double star observations. Continues observing JH's nebulae with equatorial clock. Approves of proposal for worldwide meteorological observations; will distribute brochures.
Has difficulty observing sun spots. Thomas Maclear sends WS information for next year's occultation of Alpha Tauri. Completes rotating roof for personal observatory.
C. P. Smyth arrived at Cape on 10 October; Thomas Maclear seems pleased with his work. Asks WS to continue observing Gamma Virginis; JH has observed it only as a single star in recent attempts. Thanks WS for distributing meteorological brochures. George Eden visits and will send meteorological observations from India.
Presents JH with R.A.S. medal for Catalogue of Nebulae.
Plans study of Joseph Bianchi's New Sidereal Catalogue. Sends Bianchi excerpt describing double star of Gamma Virginis.
Sends early nineteenth-century astronomical observations. Francis Baily receives £500 from Parliament to enlarge stellar catalogue. Otto Struve's observations of Gamma Virginis agree with JH's.
Sends Gamma Virginis observations. Devotes time to nautical astronomy; experiments with formulae for calculating occultations. Takes interest in eclipse of Jovian satellites.