Cambridge Library Collection - Astronomy
1 primary work • 3 total works
Volume 2
A Cycle of Celestial Objects, for the Use of Naval, Military, and Private Astronomers
by William Henry Smyth
Published 1 January 2000
As a naval admiral, William Henry Smyth (1788-1865) made use of astronomy for navigation, but his acquaintance with the renowned Italian astronomer Piazzi kindled a lifelong interest in the science and inspired the admiral to establish his own observatory where he spent the 1830s studying deep sky objects including double stars and nebulae. His work resulted in this two-volume book, published in 1844, which earned Smyth the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society and its presidency. Volume 2, the 'Bedford Catalogue', describes hundreds of deep sky objects using the highest telescopic accuracy then available. Stars are catalogued in constellations and chronological order of right ascension. The appearance, type, position and movement of each one are detailed in this fully comprehensive study. Telescopic equipment has improved enormously since 1844 but the accuracy of the measurements from the telescope's micrometer ensures that this is still a valuable reference work.
As a naval admiral, William Henry Smyth (1788-1865) made use of astronomy for navigation, but his acquaintance with the renowned Italian astronomer Piazzi kindled a lifelong interest in the science and inspired the admiral to establish his own observatory where he spent the 1830s studying deep sky objects including double stars and nebulae. His work resulted in this two-volume book, published in 1844, which earned Smyth the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society and its presidency. Volume 1 introduces Smyth's project, giving a brief history of astronomy, descriptions of the position, formation and celestial movement of the planets of the solar system and the stars that make up the sidereal heavens, and the experimental records of the observatory. Smyth's own observations are contained in Volume 2, the so-called 'Bedford Catalogue', which marked a significant advance on earlier works and remained a standard reference for many years.
Admiral William Henry Smyth's Sidereal Chromatics (1864) represents a landmark achievement in nineteenth-century astronomy, offering the most precise observations of the colours of double stars yet recorded. An expansion upon his well-known Bedford Cycle of Celestial Objects, which garnered a gold medal from the Royal Astronomical Society, Sidereal Chromatics provides both a theory concerning the source of double-star colours and a method for determining their most exact description. Detailed charts compare Smyth's measurements of more than one hundred double stars with his own previously published observations and those of his fellow astronomer, Father Benedetto Sestini. This edition also includes Smyth's famous colour chart, an attempt to standardise the process of identifying double-star colours. Sidereal Chromatics ends with Smyth's plea to amateur astronomers to continue the effort of charting the heavens, aided by improved telescopes and works such as his, 'trustworthy treatises available to all men'.