Rosse,Robinson,and the Resolution of the Nebulae

On Herschel as a telescope builder, see 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.

Michael Hoskin , “William Herschel's early investigations of nebulae: A reassessment”, ibid. , x (1979), 165–76.

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

William Herschel , “Astronomical observations relating to the sidereal part of the heavens, and its connection with the nebulous part”, ibid. , civ (1814), 248–84.

John Herschel , “Observations of nebulae and clusters, made at Slough, with a 20-feet reflector, between the years 1825–1833”, ibid. , cxxiii (1833), 359–506. This immediately became the standard reference work on nebulae.

On John Herschel's investigations of nebulae, see Michael Hoskin , “John Herschel's cosmology”, Journal for the history of astronomy , xviii (1987), 1–34.

Airy G. B. , “An address … February 12, 1836, on presenting the honorary medal to Sir J. F. W. Herschel”, Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical Society , ix (1836), 303–12, pp. 304–5.

John Herschel , A treatise on astronomy (London, 1833), art. 619.

John Herschel , “An address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science at the opening of their meeting at Cambridge, June 19th, 1845”, reprinted in his Essays from the Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews, with addresses and other pieces (London, 1857), 634–82, p. 663.

Rosse's papers are conveniently available in The scientific papers of William Parsons, third Earl of Rosse 1800–1867 , ed. by Charles Parsons (London, 1926; hereafter Papers of Rosse). For an account of the astronomical work of Rosse and his eldest son, see Patrick Moore , The astronomy of Birr Castle (London, 1971).

Lord Oxmantown Rosse , “An account of experiments on the reflecting telescope”, Philosophical transactions , cxxx (1840), 503 27; Papers of Rosse , 80–104.

[ Rosse ], “An account …”, 525; Papers of Rosse , 102.

[ Rosse ], “An account …”, 527; Papers of Rosse , 104.

James South to Rosse, 24 October 1840, Birr Archives; Bennett J. A. Michael Hoskin , “The Rosse papers and instruments”, Journal for the history of astronomy , xii (1981), 216–29, sect. A1. These papers are now available on microfilm (see announcement in Journal for the history of astronomy , xviii (1987), 34).

Robinson T. R. , “Notes of observations made at Parsonstown with the great telescope 1840”, Birr Archives; Bennett Hoskin , “Rosse papers”, B6.1.

Robinson T. R. Rosse , 23 November [1840], Birr Archives; Bennett Hoskin , “Rosse papers”, A5.

These events are described by South in a long letter, South James Rosse , 11 November 1840, Birr Archives; Bennett Hoskin , “Rosse papers”, A1.

He accused the Royal Society of having repolished the mirror of Newton's own small reflector (which would have destroyed its original figure).

On the extraordinarily vicious feud between Richard Sheepshanks and George Biddell Airy on the one hand, and South and (to a lesser extent) Charles Babbage on the other, see Michael Hoskin , “Astronomers at war: South v. Sheepshanks”, Journal for the history of astronomy , xx (1989), 175–212. Bennett J. A. Dr , whose forthcoming history of Armagh Observatory will discuss Robinson and South at length, points out that South was by instinct a ‘social climber’ who loved to make himself important in the eyes of his superiors — in this case, the Earl of Rosse — and that his dramatic account of Robinson's Academy performance needs to be taken cum grano salis. .

South James Rosse , 23 November 1840, Birr Archives; Bennett Hoskin , “Rosse papers”, A1.

Robinson T. R. , [“Account of the three-feet telescope”], Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy , ii, issue no. 25 (1840), 2–12; Papers of Rosse , 14–19.

And is evocatively described by Robinson, Robinson T. R. , “On Lord Rosse's telescope”, Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy , iii, issue no. 50 (1845), 114–33, pp. 116–17; Papers of Rosse , 20–31, pp. 21–22.

“The whole mounting was planned especially with a view of carrying on a regular system of sweeping, for which it is peculiarly adapted; but the known objects which require examination are so numerous that hitherto we have been fully occupied with them: And the discovery of new nebulae has as yet formed no part of the systematic work of the observatory”, Rosse , “Observations of the nebulae”. Philosophical transactions , cxl (1850), 499–514, p. 500; Papers of Rosse , 109–24, p. 110. “No search has been made for new nebulae”, Rosse , “On the construction of specula of six-feet aperture; and a selection from the observations of nebulae made with them”, ibid. , cli (1861), 681–745, p. 681; Papers of Rosse , 125–89, p. 125.

Rosse , “Observations on some of the nebulae”, Philosophical transactions , cxxxiv (1844), 321–3; Papers of Rosse , 105–8.

Rosse Somerville Mary , 12 June 1844 (copy of printed version is in Birr Archives).

Robinson , op. cit. (ref. 22), 119; Papers of Rosse , 23.

“1845 Notes made by T. R. Robinson of observations with the six feet reflector made by Sr James South and himself”, Birr Archives; Bennett Hoskin , “Rosse papers”, B6.1.

Rosse , “On the construction of specula of six-feet aperture” (ref. 23), 703; Papers of Rosse , 147.

See Michael Hoskin , “The first drawing of a spiral nebula”, Journal for the history of astronomy , xiii (1982), 97–101.

Rosse , “On the construction of specula of six-feet aperture” (ref. 23), 703; Papers of Rosse , 147.

Robinson , op. cit. (ref. 22). His conclusion appears on p. 130 ( Papers of Rosse , 29).

Robinson purports to cite the ipsissima verba of John Herschel, but I do not know the source. Perhaps Robinson is adapting art. 625 of Herschel's A treatise on astronomy (ref. 8): “That by far the larger share of them consist of stars there can be little doubt.”.

Le ter in the London Times for 16 April 1845, reprinted in Astronomische Nachrichten , no. 536 (17 May 1845), cols 113–18; see col. 115.

Herschel J. , op. cit. (ref. 9), 662–3. Most of the elliptical nebulae were of course galaxies.

Nichol J. P. , Architecture of the heavens , 9th edn (London, 1851), 140–1.

Rosse to Challis J. , 14 February 1846, Cambridge University Institute of Astronomy Archives. I am grateful to Dr D. W. Dewhirst for drawing this letter to my attention.

Nichol , Architecture (ref. 35), 142–3.

Ibid. , 144–5.

On this, see Michael Hoskin , Stellar astronomy: Historical studies (Chalfont St Giles, 1982), 150.

Notably, the Bonds at Harvard; see Jones B. Z. Boyd L. G. , The Harvard College Observatory (Cambridge, Mass., 1971), 67–69. On 22 September 1847, Bond W. C. wrote to the President of Harvard: “You will rejoice with me that the great nebula in Orion has yielded to the powers of our incomparable telescope!” ( ibid. , 67).

von Humboldt Alexander Arago François , 7 July 1848, cited in Correspondence d'Alexandre de Humboldt avec François Arago , ed. by Hamy E.-T. (Paris, 1909), 287.

For a modern account of the central region of M 42 with photographs and a bibliography, see Chapter 2 of Goudis C. , The Orion Complex: A case study of interstellar matter (Dordrecht, 1982). Strand K. A. , “Stellar motions in the Orion Nebula cluster”, Astrophysical journal , cxxviii (1958), 14–30, studies the properties of 224 stars brighter than 14.5 visual magnitude in the area covering ¼ square degree centred on the Trapezium.