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The Sir John Herschel Collection
The preparation of the print Calendar of the Correspondence of Sir John Herschel (Michael J. Crowe ed., David R. Dyck and James J. Kevin assoc. eds, Cambridge, England: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998, viii + 828 pp) which was funded by the National Science Foundation, took ten years. It was accomplished by a team of seventeen professors, visiting scholars, graduate students, advanced undergraduates, and staff working at the University of Notre Dame.
The first online version of Calendar was created in 2009 by Dr Marvin Bolt and Steven Lucy, working at the Webster Institute of the Adler Planetarium, and it is that data that has now been reformatted for incorporation into Ɛpsilon.
Further information about Herschel, his correspondence, and the editorial method is available online here: http://historydb.adlerplanetarium.org/herschel/?p=intro
No texts of Herschel’s letters are currently available through Ɛpsilon.
Acknowledges receipt of WS's second volume of observations and the new telescope's results. Mentions Caroline Herschel's catalogue of nebulae.
Informs WS that the Astronomical Society has voted WS a gold medal for WS's observations of double stars. Says he is now observing nebulae. Confirms receipt of WS's fourth volume of observations sent by [E. C. F.?] Knorre. Asks WS to verify [Henry] Kater's observations on black zones in Saturn's outer ring.
Sent medal to WS. Tells WS it was awarded to WS and [James] South. Speaks of [Francis] Baily's medal presentation speech. Lists books sent to WS.
Communicates to WS the award of the Royal Gold Medal for his 'magnificent work on the New Catalogue of 3112 Double Stars.' Informs WS that award is for research completed within 5 years of presentation.
Sends WS JH's 'Light' published in the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana. Mentions recalibration of his magnitude measurements of small stars near other small ones. Comments on results in WS's paper concerning Saturn's ring. Confirms sighting of 'well defined, equable, planetary disk.'
Asks WS for account of the performance of his new [Josef] Fraunhofer telescope. Corroborates WS's double star motion data, except for 70 Ophiuchi, where JH and [James] South find no motion. Asks for observational targets and urges care in WS's observational technique. Mentions WS's intention to undertake celestial zone with [F. W.] Bessel. Describes [Henry] Kater's 'floating collimator.'
May not be able to separate double stars with the twenty foot reflector. Is reviewing nebulae. Regrets [Josef] Fraunhofer did not live to see WS's work. Speaks of standard catalogue of 2881 stars as joint labor of all observatories. Interested in bright stars with minute companions.
Has more leisure after resigning as Secretary to the Royal Society. Is sending his and [James] South's magnitude scales and positions of observation for WS to compare. Lists common double stars and offers means of comparison. Remarks on 'new star,' the fifth star in the trapezoid of Orion.
Lists contents of a letter sent on 1828-7-6. JH's Light and third catalogue of double stars sent. Details of nebulae included.
WS was elected associate of Astronomical Society. Distributed books as WS directed. Will send JH's and James South's observations of double stars when printed. Neither Thomas Young nor William Herschel received WS's Dorpat observations.