Thanks WS for having accepted his medal from R.A.S. Finds that the [Thomas] Brisbane Catalogue contains insufficient right ascension information, complicating reduction observations. Observed Halley's Comet.
Showing 21–40 of 48 items
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.
Thanks WS for having accepted his medal from R.A.S. Finds that the [Thomas] Brisbane Catalogue contains insufficient right ascension information, complicating reduction observations. Observed Halley's Comet.
Wants to know if JH has a larger telescope in operation; if so, will he confirm some observations. Asks JH to recommend an epoch.
Will observe transit [of Mercury] hoping it will provide good meridian data. Encloses sketch of telescope in Bedford.
Thanks JH for kindness to C. P. Smyth. Francis Baily re-elected president of R.A.S. W. S. Stratford prints a comet ephemeris.
Sends data concerning double stars and new form for making observations of them.
Will be able to receive JH during Cambridge trip.
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.