Abstract
The comet-sweeper that William had made Caroline, with a tube that was little over two feet in length, was one that his sister could use while she was sitting comfortably alongside, observing through the eyepiece located near the top of the tube. But William was never one to leave well alone, and in 1790 he made her a bigger and (in his eyes) better one, of five feet focal length. Since the new tube was taller than Caroline, she now had to stand on a stool in order to peer through the eyepiece at the top of the tube. This she found tiring, and sometimes she would opt for her old friend the ‘small’ sweeper.
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Notes
- 1.
N. Maskelyne to W. Herschel, 10 Jan. 1789, RAS Herschel Archive W.1/13.M.37.
- 2.
Mrs J. Herschel (1879), 92.
- 3.
C. Herschel to J. Banks, 17 Aug. 1797, Mrs J. Herschel (1879), 94–95.
- 4.
Hoskin (2005a), 400–402.
- 5.
C. L. Herschel, Catalogue of Stars, Taken from Mr. Flamsteed's Observations... (London, 1798).
- 6.
C. Herschel to N. Maskelyne, Sept. 1798, Lubbock (1933), 257.
- 7.
Mrs J. Herschel (1879), 100.
- 8.
Mrs J. Herschel (1879), 109.
- 9.
Lubbock (1933), 296.
- 10.
Mrs J. Herschel (1879), 104.
- 11.
On William's attempt to establish a second home in Bath see Hoskin (2012a).
- 12.
RAS Herschel Archive W.6/8.
- 13.
RAS Herschel Archive W.2/2.5, f. 52v.
- 14.
Mrs J. Herschel (1879), 106.
- 15.
C. A. Lubbock, author's typescript of The Herschel Chronicle, chap. 24, p. 26, William Herschel Museum, Bath.
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Hoskin, M. (2014). The Peerless Assistant. In: William and Caroline Herschel. SpringerBriefs in Astronomy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6875-8_4
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