Abstract
Maximilian Hell introduced two new constellations in 1789 commemorating the discovery of the planet Uranus by Sir William Herschel (1738–1822) 8 years earlier. Both took the form of telescopes belonging to Herschel, and first appeared in an annual almanac published at Milan called Ephemerides astronomicae for the year 1790, subtitled Anni 1790 ad meridianum mediolanensem (“For the year 1790 at the meridian of Milan”). To underscore the Uranian connection, the two telescopes nearly bracketed the region of sky where Herschel found the first planet discovered since antiquity in March 1781, marked between the horns of Taurus on Hell’s map reproduced here in Fig. 26.2. Hell’s “Tubus Hershelii Maior” and “Tubus Hershelii Minor” were intended to represent, respectively, a 20-foot reflector and the 7-foot reflector actually used in the Uranus discovery. Based on the depictions in Ephemerides astronomicae (Figs. 26.1 and 26.2) it is clear that, as Ridpath (1989) put it, “Hell had not seen either telescope.”
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
“Between the bridle [of Auriga] and Gemini” (Green, 1824) “Lies between the Lynx and the Wagoner” (Kendall, 1845); “Situated between the Lynx and Gemini” (Bouvier, 1858); “It lay between the Lynx and Gemini... The star π of Gemini marks its former location, the western end having been among the ψ stars of Auriga, not far from the latter’s β.” (Allen, 1899)
- 2.
- 3.
“Der Abt Hell gab vor einigen Jahren zur Einführung desselben die Veranlassung. So wie ich es nun in diesen neuen Himmelscharten ostwärts beym Furhmann abbilde, soll es die Gestalt uns Aufstellungsart des 7füssigen [sic] im Andenken erhalten, womit der berühmte D. Herschel im Jahr 1781 den 13 Marz in deffen Nachbarschaft, nehmlich zwischen den Hörnern des Siters und den Füssen der Zwillinge, den Uranus zuerst also Planet erkannte. Die vornehmsten Sterne deffelben wurden sonst zum Furhmann gerechnet.” (p. 7)
- 4.
“Dans cette nouvelle édition nous avons ajouté le Solitaire, d’après le citoyen Lemonnier, Mém. de l’Academie, 1776; le Messier, d’après le Globe de Lalande, gravé en 1779; le Taureau de Poniatowski, d’après Poczobut, Astronome de Pologne; les Télescopes de Herschel & la Harpe de Georges, d’après Hell dans les Ephémérides de Vienne, 1790; le Tropheé de Frédéric, d’après Bode, qui l’a fait graver en 1787.” (page v.)
- 5.
Chapter II, page 38.
- 6.
Chapter II, page 33.
- 7.
Royal Astronomical Society MSS W.2/1.2, 23, quoted in Ellis D. Miner, Uranus: The Planet, Rings and Satellites (1998), p. 8.
- 8.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1 January 1781, Vol. 71, pp. 492–501.
- 9.
RAS MSS Herschel W1/13.M, 14, quoted in Miner (1998), p. 8.
- 10.
RAS MSS Herschel W.1/12.M, 20, quoted in Miner (1998), p. 12.
- 11.
Letter to Joseph Banks, quoted in J.L.E. Dreyer, The Scientific Papers of Sir William Herschel (1912).
- 12.
Quoted in Johann Elert Bode’s Astronomisches Jahrbuch for 1788, p. 161.
- 13.
The Herschels and Modern Astronomy, pp. 34–35.
- 14.
Quoted in Holden, Chap. III, page 117.
References
Allen, Richard Hinckley. 1899. Star Names: Their Lore And Meaning. New York: Dover.
Argelander, Friedrich W. A. 1843. Neue Uranometrie. Berlin: Simon Schropp.
Bakich, Michael E. 1995. The Cambridge guide to the constellations. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Bode, Johnann Elert. 1782. Vorstellung der Gestirne auf XXXIV Kupfertafeln nach der Pariser Ausgabe des Flamsteadschen Himmelsatlas. Berlin: Gottlieb August Lange.
Bode, Johnann Elert. 1801b. Uranographia, sive astrorum descriptio. Berlin: Frederico de Haan.
Bode, Johnann Elert. 1805. Vorstellung der Gestirne auf vier und dreyssig Kupfertafeln nebst einer Anweisung zum Gebrauch und einem Verzeichnisse von 5877 Sternen, Nebelflecken und Sternhaufen. Second ed. edn. Berlin: Gottlieb August Lange.
Bouvier, Hannah M. 1858. Bouvier’s Familiar astronomy; or, An introduction to the study of the heavens. Philadelphia: Sower, Barnes, & Potts.
Burritt, Elijah Hinsdale. 1833. The geography of the heavens; or, Familiar instructions for finding the visible stars and constellations accompanied by a celestial atlas. Hartford, Conn.: F.J. Huntington.
Chambers, George Frederick. 1877. A Handbook of Descriptive Astronomy. 3rd edn. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Clerke, Agnes Mary. 1895. The Herschels and Modern Astronomy. London: Cassell and Company, Ltd.
Colas, Jules A. (ed). 1892. Poole Bros’ Celestial Handbook, companion to their Celestial Planisphere. Chicago: Poole Bros.
Fortin, Jean Nicolas. 1795. Atlas Céleste de Flamstéed. Third edn. Paris: Lamarche.
Green, Jacob. 1824. Astronomical Recreations, or Sketches of the Relative Position and Mythological History of the Constellations. Philadelphia: Anthony Finley.
Hall, Sidney. 1825. Urania’s Mirror, or A View of the Heavens; Consisting of Thirty-Two Cards on Which are Represented all the Constellations Visible in Great Britain; on a Plan Perfectly Original, Designed by a Lady. London: Samuel Leigh.
Hell, Maximilian. 1789. Ephemerides astronomicae: Anni 1790 ad meridianum mediolanensem; Acc. appendix cum observ. et opusc. Milan: Joseph Galeatium.
Jamieson, Alexander. 1822. A celestial atlas: comprising a systematic display of the heavens in a series of thirty maps: illustrated by scientific description of their contents and accompanied by catalogues of the stars and astronomical exercises. London: G. & W.B. Whittaker.
Kendall, Ezra Otis. 1845. Uranography: or, a description of the heavens; designed for academies and schools; accompanied by an atlas of the heavens, showing the places of the principal stars, clusters and nebulae. Philadelphia: E. H. Butler & Co.
Lebon, Ernest. 1899. Histoire Abrégée de l’astronomie. Paris: Gauthier-Villars.
Miner, Ellis D. 1998. Uranus: The Planet, Rings and Satellites. New York: John Wiley and Sons.
Olcott, William Tyler. 1911. Star Lore of All Ages. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons.
Pritchard, Charles. 1885. Uranometria Nova Oxoniensis. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Proctor, Richard Anthony. 1876. The Constellation-Seasons. London: Longmans, Green, and Company.
Ridpath, Ian. 1989. Star Tales. Cambridge, UK: Lutterworth Press.
Rosser, William Henry. 1879. The Stars and Constellations; How and When to Find and Tell Them. London: Charles Wilson.
Young, Thomas. 1807. A Course of Lectures on Natural Philosophy and the Mechanical Arts. Vol. 1. London: Joseph Johnson.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Barentine, J.C. (2016). Telescopia Herschelii. In: The Lost Constellations. Springer Praxis Books(). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22795-5_26
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22795-5_26
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-22794-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-22795-5
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)