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William Herschel, Flamsteed Numbers and Harris’s Star Maps

2014; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 45; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/0021828614534811

1753-8556

Wolfgang Steinicke,

History of Science and Medicine

The paper discusses the origin of the commonly used Flamsteed star numbers, which are missing in John Flamsteed’s British Catalogue (1725) and accompanying Atlas coelestis (1729). Johann Elert Bode introduced these numbers in the Sammlung Astronomischer Tafeln (1776). Herschel independently created them in 1781 for his third star review. At that time he purchased Flamsteed’s Atlas coelestis and the question arises, which star chart did he use before, especially when Uranus was discovered. This leads to two star maps, linked to the Welsh astronomer Joseph Harris and based on stars whose positions were measured by Flamsteed and Halley.