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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.
Ready to embark to Cape Town; JH expects to arrive at the end of January. Sent out the last proof sheet of JH's nebulae catalog last night.
Sailing to Cape Town, JH reports sighting an English ship.
Reports that they are 'safely landed and comfortably housed' in Africa. The Herschels were at sea for nine weeks and two days. Required several days to unload the instruments and luggage from the ship. Has chosen a house, about five miles from town, called 'The Grove.' Excited with the calm, clear nights, which will be excellent for observations.
Reviews his voyage to Africa in case CH did not receive JH's 1834-1-21 letter. Repairing the house that they bought outside of Cape Town, called 'Feldhausen' by the Dutch and 'The Grove' by the English; they are staying at another home close by. Happy that Table Mountain near the house shelters Feldhausen from southeast gales.
Thrilled that JH has arrived safely in Cape Town; notes that JH's Cape Town trip has captivated the intellectual world.
Sweeping progressing quickly; has used the 20-ft. reflecting telescope since February. Discovered two planetary nebulae. Studying Scorpio closely, as CH suggested; has found gorgeous globular clusters there. The equatorial was erected recently.
Asks about JH's children. Remarks that JH's discovery of globular clusters in the Scorpion is not what she remembered William Herschel being mystified about; remembers that WH exclaimed that there seemed to be a 'Loch im Himmel' ('hole in heaven') there.
JH describes his sweeps of Scorpio. Writes that the Milky Way is 'extremely curious and interesting.' Has collected a large catalog of southern nebulae, many never before detected. JH's search for Halley's Comet has been unsuccessful thus far.
Applauds CH elected an [honorary] member of the R.A.S. Missed seeing Halley's Comet and Johann Encke's comet; Thomas Maclear, however, viewed Encke's three times. Has studied nearly the entire Southern sky.
Reports the birth of his fifth child, Alexander Stewart. Has made some excellent observations of Halley's Comet. Asks CH to inform Carl Gauss that JH has not received Gauss's magnetometer nor is JH certain of how to use it.
Is too busy to use Carl Gauss's magnetometer. Viewing Halley's Comet has interrupted JH's sweeps. Reports that Gamma Virginis is a single star in both the 20-ft. reflector and 7-ft. equatorial.
Has recently been too ill to write. Sent portraits of William Herschel to Wilhelm Struve, Heinrich Schumacher, Karl Gauss, Friedrich Bessel, and others.
Work nearly finished here. Has documented the sixth satellite of Saturn and has seen possibly a seventh.
Confident that 1837 will be his last year in Africa. JH's catalog of nebulae and double stars is nearly complete. Has a series of observations of Halley's Comet from 1836-1-25 to 1836-5-5. Although JH is too busy to undertake any magnetic studies, he has been providing information about Carl Gauss's magnetometer to the new observatory in Bombay. Recalls that Charles Babbage mentioned the 'principle' of Gauss's method 'at least 10 or 12 years' ago.
Reports that he viewed Halley's Comet from 1836-1-25 to 1836-5-10. Now studying sunspots and solar radiation. Comments that the sun has more spots than JH previously thought. Has been busy during the December solstice determining the constant of solar radiation.
Experiencing 'a daily increase of pain and feebleness.'
Has decisively mapped Saturn's sixth satellite; doubts, however, that he will ever see the seventh. Asks CH to inform Friedrich Bessel of his observation.
Hopes that JH will receive Friedrich Bessel's paper called 'On the Influence of the Irregularities of the Earth on Geodetic Operations, and their Comparison with Astronomical Determinations.'
Eliminated plans to visit Rio de Janeiro on the Herschels' return home, which will enable them to visit Hanover. Notes that JH's rheumatism attacks have interfered with his observations. JH considers his sweeping work finished. Has sent to the R.S.L. the first six hours of JH's 'Southern Catalogue of Nebulae and Double Stars' along with the micrometric measures of 400 southern double stars made with the equatorial.
[Postscript to a letter by Margaret Herschel:] JH notes that he has finished the reduction of the first 9 hours in Right Ascension of his southern nebulae and double stars.