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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.
Describes the total solar eclipse seen by Francis Baily at Pavia and George Airy at Turin. They were thrilled to witness three purple flames from the blocked sun emerge around the edge of the moon. Thirty more Cape Town sweeps remain to be reduced.
Reports the erection of an obelisk at Feldhausen to commemorate the site of JH's 20-ft. reflector. Back at Cape Town, Thomas Maclear is measuring N. L. Lacaille's Arc of the Meridian. JH received the Prussian Order of Merit.
Reports the birth of JH's ninth child, Julia.
JH finished his catalog of stars for his Cape Results; hopes to be finished with his nebulae and double star catalogs soon.
Finished the reductions of all of the nebulae and double stars recorded at Cape Town; JH soon hopes to prepare for the publication of his Cape Results.
Wishes CH a happy 93rd birthday. Occupied with remodelling the Southern Constellations, which 'are all in confusion;' admits that not everyone will be satisfied with his constellation reforms.
Describes the visit of the Crown Prince and Princess [of Hanover?] on her 93rd birthday (16 March).
Concerning the great comet of 1843, JH remarks that both Thomas Henderson and Johann Encke noted that the comet bounced off the sun's atmosphere.
Urges JH to study a temporary index made by William Herschel that contains observations about types of zodiacal light.
Completed 'one of the most curious products' of JH's Cape Results: the map and catalog of the 'Nubecula major' region.
Enjoyed reading CH's account of some significant events from her life. Reports that James Clark Ross has returned safely from his South Pole expedition in which Ross discovered the true position of the South Magnetic Pole.
Assures CH that he has preserved everything that she ever wrote to JH or that he found in William Herschel's library.
Happy that his Cape Results are nearly finished. After reviewing his work, JH concluded that the amount of error per observation is no more than 30 or 35 seconds.
Remarks that the citizens of Hanover 'are all out of their senses' over the newly completed railway. Has been confined to the upstairs of her home since 3 February.
Reports the birth of JH's 9th child, Mathilda Rose Herschel.
Wishes CH a happy 96th birthday. Reports that when Margaret Herschel's brother John Stewart was in Egypt, he saw a comet. JH remarks that 'there seems to be no end of the comets.'
JH expresses pleasure in receiving and reading extracts from CH's biography. Expects to begin printing his Cape Results by Christmas. In finalizing his Cape Results, JH has found that several Southern double stars moved in the five-year span of his observations.
George Airy, George Peacock, and [Adam] Sedgwick are visiting Collingwood for Christmas. Airy writes JH that an American astronomer named [Ormsby] 'Mitchell' has seen Antares double. JH reports that William Lassell and W. R. Dawes have observed the 7th Saturnian satellite and also another of the six satellites of the 'Georgium Sidus' [Uranus]. JH is confident that his Cape Results will go to the presses in January.
A collection of birthday greetings from JH, his wife, Margaret, and seven of their children, six of whom wrote their greetings in German. JH refers to Biela's Comet having thrown off a portion of itself, producing what JH calls a 'Double Comet.'
[Written as a family letter.] JH has corrected the first proof sheet of his Cape Results. Reports that Biela's Comet has been found to be a double comet.