History of Astronomy Group Meeting: 'William and Caroline Herschel: Partners in Exploration'
Date and time
Location
Royal Observatory Greenwich
Blackheath Avenue Greenwich Greenwich SE10 8XJ United KingdomDescription
Flamsteed History of Astronomy Group Meeting.
The following talk will be delivered by Mona Evans.
In 1781, a German-born musician observing with a home-made telescope from his back garden in Bath, England, discovered a new planet, the first to be found since ancient times. We now call it Uranus. This unexpected discovery, which doubled the size of the known Solar System, propelled William Herschel to international celebrity.
But that was only the start. Sponsored by the king of England, he and his sister Caroline spent the rest of their lives surveying the heavens, making Caroline the first woman professional astronomer. This is the story of their remarkable partnership and the revolution it wrought in our knowledge of the Universe, with particular emphasis on the role of the usually unheralded Caroline.
THIS EVENT IS OPEN TO MEMBERS OF THE FLAMSTEED ASTRONOMY SOCIETY ONLY.
Please do not book a place on this event if you are not a member of the society. Your booking will be cancelled if your name does not appear on our membership database.
Organised by
The Flamsteed is an amateur astronomy society at the Royal Observatory and National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London SE10. It has around 400 members who represent the full range of interests and experience in astronomy. Many are beginners. It is named after the first Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed. The Society was founded in 1999, and is part of the membership organisation of Royal Museums Greenwich. Our lecture meetings are held on the first Monday of each month between September and May in the lecture theatre of the National Maritime Museum, or in the Peter Harrison Planetarium at the Royal Observatory Greenwich (ROG). The Society regularly holds observing evenings using members’ own telescopes. In addition the Society stages viewing sessions with the ROG’s Great Equatorial refractor, the largest of its kind in the UK, and seventh largest in the world. We are members of The Federation of Astronomical Societies.