Nebulae,Star Clusters and the Milky Way: From Galileo to William Herschel

Jones Kenneth Glyn , The search for the nebulae (Chalfont St Giles [now: Cambridge], 1975), 5–7. Ptolemy describes the objects as (or ), from , cloud.

Jones Glyn , op. cit. (ref. 1), 8.

Galilei Galileo , Sidereus nuncius (Venice, 1610), 18r.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Ibid.

The observations by Peiresc of the Orion Nebula in late November and early December 1610 are cited at www.seds.org/messier/more/m042_pei.html.

Marius S. , Mundus Jovialis … (Nuremberg, 1614), Preface, 15. Translation in Glyn Jones, op. cit. (ref. 1), 14.

Cysat J. B. , Mathematica astronomica … (Ingolstadt, 1619). See the account in Dictionary of scientific biography.

Hodierna G. B. , De systemate orbis cometici; deque admirandis coeli carateribus, opuscula duo … (Palermo, 1654), discussed in Serio G. Foderà , “G. B. Hodierna's observations of nebulae and his cosmology”, Journal for the history of astronomy, xvi (1985), 1985–36.

Huygens Christiaan , Systema Saturnium (The Hague, 1659), 8.

Bouillau I. , Ad astronomos monita duo (Paris, 1667), “De nebulosa in Andromedae cinguli parte borea ante biennium iterum orta”. Cf. Glyn Jones, op. cit. (ref. 1), 14–17.

Halley Edmond , “An account of several nebulae or lucid spots like clouds, lately discovered among the fixt stars by help of the telescope”, Philosophical transactions, xxix (1714–16), 390–2, p. 390.

Correspondence and papers of Edmond Halley, ed. by MacPike E. F. (Oxford, 1932), 40.

Hoskin Michael , “John Herschel's cosmology”, Journal for the history of astronomy, xviii (1987), 1–34, pp. 18–19.

de Mairan J-J. d'O. , Traité physique et historique de l'Aurore Boréale (Paris, 1733), Section V, p. 246, cited in Glyn Jones, op. cit. (ref. 1), 27.

Smith Robert W. , Astronomy's Great Debate (Cambridge, 1982), 134. Cf. Hoskin Michael , Stellar astronomy: Historical studies (Chalfont St Giles [now: Cambridge], 1982), 164–5.

Derham W. , “Observations of the appearances among the fix'd stars …”, Philosophical transactions , xxxviii, no. 428 (1733), 70–74. See Jones Glyn , op. cit. (ref. 1), 29–32.

de Chéseaux P. L. , list read to the Académie Royale des Sciences on 6 August 1746 (but not published until 1884). See Jones Glyn , op. cit. (ref. 1), 36–40.

See ref. 15.

Derham's paper is reprinted in Glyn Jones, op. cit. (ref. 1), 30–31.

Cassini Jacques , Éléments d'astronomie, i (Paris, 1740), 77–79.

de la Caille M. L'Abbé , “Sur les étoiles nébuleuses du ciel austral”, Mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Sciences , 1755, 286–96. See Gingerich Owen , “Abbé Lacaille's list of clusters and nebulae”, Sky and telescope, xix (1960), 1960–8.

On Messier, see the entry in Dictionary of scientific biography and the extensive materials in Jones Kenneth Glyn , Messier's nebulae and star clusters, 2nd edn (Cambridge, 1991).

Hoskin Michael , “Stukeley's cosmology and the Newtonian origins of Olbers's Paradox”, Journal for the history of astronomy, xvi (1985), 77–112, espec. p. 106.

Hoskin , “Stukeley's cosmology” (ref. 25), 101–4.

Hoskin Michael , “The cosmology of Thomas Wright of Durham”, Journal for the history of astronomy, i (1970), 44–52; reprinted with an Appendix on Wright and Herschel in Hoskin, Stellar astronomy (ref. 17), 101–16.

Newcastle Public Libraries, Wright manuscripts, vol. vii, C. 2–3.

Wright Thomas , Second or singular thoughts upon the theory of the universe, ed. by Hoskin Michael (London, 1968).

Hoskin , “The cosmology of Thomas Wright of Durham” (ref. 27), 48–49; reprint pp. 111–12.

Kant Immanuel , Allgemeine Naturgeschichte und Theorie des Himmels (Königsberg and Leipzig, 1755), transl. by Hastie W. , Kant's cosmogony (Glasgow, 1900), and by Jaki Stanley L. , Immanuel Kant: Universal natural history and theory of the heavens (Edinburgh, 1981).

Lambert J. H. , Cosmologische Briefe über die Einrichtung des Weltbaues (Augsberg, 1761); transl. by Jaki Stanley L. , Cosmological letters on the arrangement of the world-edifice (Edinburgh and New York, 1976). See Hoskin Michael , “The cosmology of J. H. Lambert”, in Stellar astronomy (ref.17), 117–23.

Mayer Tobias , “De motu fixarum proprio commentatio”, in Opera inedita, ed. by Lichtenberg G. C. , i (Göttingen, 1775), 77–81.

Smith Robert , Harmonics, or the philosophy of musical sounds (Cambridge, 1749).

Smith Robert , A compleat system of opticks (Cambridge, 1738).

On Alexander see Spaight John Tracy , “Alexander Herschel as telescope maker”, Journal for the history of astronomy, xxxiv (2003), 95–96; Hoskin Michael , “Alexander Herschel: The forgotten partner”, ibid., xxxv (2004), 2004–420; and Hoskin Michael , The Herschels of Hanover (Cambridge, 2007), 77–92.

RAS MS Herschel W.2/1.1, f. 1.

Cassini IV writing in Mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, 1784, 333.

Struve F. G. W. , Études d'astronomie stellaire (St Petersburg, 1847), 48.

Herschel William , “On the construction of the heavens”, Philosophical transactions, lxxv (1785), 213–66, pp. 213–14.

RAS MS Herschel W.2/1.1, ff. 37, 47. For further information see Hoskin Michael , “William Herschel's early investigations of nebulae: A reassessment”, Journal for the history of astronomy, x (1979), 165–76, reprinted in Hoskin, Stellar astronomy (ref. 17), 125–36.

RAS MS Herschel W.2/1.2, f. 4r.

William Watson to Herschel, 7 December 1781, RAS MS Herschel W.1/13.W.11.

Herschel William , “Account of some observations tending to investigate the construction of the heavens”, Philosophical transactions, lxxiv (1784), 437–51, pp. 439–40.

The classic article on the 20-ft and on Herschel's telescopes in general is Bennett J. A. , “‘On the power of penetrating into space’: The telescopes of William Herschel”, Journal for the history of astronomy, vii (1976), 75–108.

RAS MS Herschel W.4/1.3, f. 231.

Herschel to J.-J. le F. de Lalande, 17 March 1785, RAS MS Herschel W.1/1, 128–30, p. 129.

Caroline was in fact instructed to look out for any object of interest, RAS MS Herschel C.1/1.1, sheet pasted in the front.

On Caroline's work as an observer, see Hoskin Michael , “Caroline Herschel as observer”, Journal for the history of astronomy, xxxvi (2005), 373–406, and “Caroline Herschel's catalogue of nebulae”, ibid., xxxvii (2006), 2006–5.

RAS MS Herschel W.4/1.4, f. 338.

RAS MS Herschel W.4/1.4, f. 319.

RAS MS Herschel W.4/1.5, f. 441.

RAS MS Herschel W.4/1.5, f. 414.

Faujas-De-St-Fond Barthélmy , Voyages en Angleterre … (2 vols, Paris, 1797), i, 74–76, 81; Ashworth William B. Jr , “Faujas-de-St-Fond visits the Herschels at Datchet”, Journal for the history of astronomy, xxxiv (2003), 2003–4; and Hoskin , The Herschels of Hanover (ref. 36), 111.

Herschel William , “Catalogue of one thousand new nebulae and clusters of stars”, Philosophical transactions, lxxvi (1786), 457–99.

Herschel William , “Catalogue of a second thousand of new nebulae and clusters of stars; with a few introductory remarks on the construction of the heavens”, Ibid., lxxix (1789), 212–55.

RAS MS W.4/1.5, f. 484.

Herschel , op. cit. (ref. 11), 443.

RAS MS Herschel W.4/1.7, f. 643.

RAS MS Herschel W.2/1.9, f. 29r.

Herschel , op. cit. (ref. 7), 260.

Michell John , “An enquiry into the probable parallax and magnitude of the fixed stars …”, Philosophical transactions, lvii (1767), 234–64.

Michell John , “On the means of discovering the distance, magnitude, etc., of the fixed stars”, Philosophical transactions, lxxiv (1784), 35–57.

Herschel , op. cit. (ref. 7), 214.

Ibid., 217.

Ibid., 265–6.

Herschel , op. cit. (ref. 24).

Ibid., 226.

On this see Hoskin , Stellar astronomy (ref. 17), 101–23.

Ibid., 121.

RAS MS Herschel W.1/1, 236–7, p. 236.

Hoskin , Stellar astronomy (ref. 17), 114–15.

Herschel , opera cit. (refs 7 and 11).

Herschel , op. cit. (ref. 7), Tab. VIII.

Herschel William , “Astronomical observations and experiments …”, Philosophical transactions, cviii (1818), 429–70, p. 463.

Herschel William , “Catalogue of 500 new nebulae … with remarks on the construction of the heavens”, Philosophical transactions, xcii (1802), 477–528, pp. 480, 495.

Herschel William , “On nebulous stars, properly so called”, Philosophical transactions, lxxxi (1791), 71–88, p. 82.

Herschel William , “Astronomical observations relating to the construction of the heavens …”, Philosophical transactions, ci (1811), 269–336; “Astronomical observations relating to the sidereal part of the heavens …”, ibid., civ (1814), 1814–84; “Astronomical observations, and experiments tending to investigate the local arrangement of the celestial bodies in space”, ibid., cvii (1817), 1817–31; and op. cit. (ref. 44).

Herschel , op. cit. (ref. 78, 1814), 278.

Herschel , op. cit. (ref. 78, 1811), 271.

Herschel , op. cit. (ref. 78, 1814), 284.

Herschel , op. cit. (ref. 75), 453.

Herschel , op. cit. (ref. 76), 498–9.

The Herschel chronicle , ed. by Lubbock Constance A. (Cambridge, 1933), 336, citing Life and letters of Th. Campbell, ed. by Beattie W. (London, 1849).

“Address of the Astronomical Society of London, explanatory of their views and objects”, Memoirs of the Astronomical Society of London , i (1822–25), 1–7, p. 4. For the subsequent history of theories of the nebulae and the Milky Way down to the dawn of astrophysics, see Hoskin , “John Herschel's cosmology” (ref. 15), and idem, “The Leviathan of Parsonstown: Ambitions and achievements”, ibid., xxxiii (2002), 2002–70.

See Hoskin Michael , “Herschel's 40ft reflector: Funding and functions”, Journal for the history of astronomy, xxxiv (2003), 1–32; and Bennett, op. cit. (ref. 12).