Discusses various telescopes of his father and his father's [erroneous] announcement of his discovery of four additional satellites of Uranus.
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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.
Discusses various telescopes of his father and his father's [erroneous] announcement of his discovery of four additional satellites of Uranus.
Reports finding, while preparing a star atlas, that bright stars appear to be very dense in a region associated with the Milky Way but centered on the greater Magellanic Cloud. Because of a coming lecture on stellar distribution, 'I ... am saturating myself with Herschelian astronomy.'
Suggests reasons for doubting the distribution of bright stars that RP had reported. Responds to RP's query concerning a statement in Outlines Ast. Encourages RP's hypothesizing on star distribution.
Reports on his studies of stellar and nebular distributions, discussing especially whether the Magellanic Clouds show a relation to the Milky Way stars. Speculates on whether recent studies on meteors bear on stellar formation and change. Stresses need for statistical studies in stellar astronomy.
Sends map from his new atlas. Reports finding a region rich in bright stars in the northern hemisphere but distinct from the Milky Way. States that in a Royal Institution lecture, he will claim that telescopes cannot reach the limits of the sidereal system and that it is far more complex than traditionally assumed.
Thanks RP for sending RP's Other Worlds than Ours and supplies comments, some favorable, on numerous claims made therein, e.g., on RP's theory that Jupiter and Saturn are hot and to some degree luminous.
Thanks JH for commentary on RP's Other Worlds than Ours. Responds to JH's comments, accepting most objections. Acknowledges his major debt to JH's writings.
Assures RP that he is not upset at RP for publicly questioning some of JH's ideas. Continues discussion of point in perturbation theory for Uranus.
Admits JH is correct in suggested correction of RP's statement regarding perturbations of Uranus. Suggests that JH urge astronomers to observe the solar corona carefully.
Continues to explain matters in perturbation theory. Stresses need for careful observations in solar eclipses. Doubts the existence of the hypothetical intermercurial planet Vulcan.
Admits his misstatement in RP's Other Worlds than Ours concerning perturbation of outer planets. Shares JH's doubts about existence of Vulcan. Speculates on the extent of meteoric material in the solar system. Comments negatively on J. Norman Lockyer's views on meteors.
Asks JH's advice on whether a method devised by RP of charting bright stars in isographic projections based on star gauges seems best. Describes the method and urges that the charts will produce useful suggestions about the distribution of stars.
Approves RP's method of preparing isographic projection charts of the distribution of bright stars, noting that JH's gauges of the southern stars are incomplete.
Thanks JH for advice on planned chart; explains method of dealing with unguaged areas. RP has adopted a somewhat different method of charting.