Celestial Globe Research Articles

Halley as an astronomer

Though Halley was a man of great versatility and with very wide interests, his first main interest was astronomy and it was to astronomy that the last years of his life were principally devoted. This interest in astronomy developed while he was still at St Paul’s School, where we are told he ‘perfectly learned the use of a Celestial Globe and could make a complete dial’. By the age of 16, at about the time that he entered Queen’s College, Oxford, as a commoner, he had decided to devote himself to astronomy. This he states in the introduction to his catalogue of the southern stars, which was published some five years later.

Terrestrial and celestial globes by Vincenzo Coronelli, 1688

Terrestrial and celestial globes by Vincenzo Coronelli, 1688

Selecting the Moon's Limb

This paper describes two methods of determining whether a sextant observation of the Moon should be of the upper or lower limb. The first method requires the use of a celestial globe or planisphere; the second is mathematical and requires a certain amount of computation, but is exact.The line which separates the dark portion of the Moon's disk from the illuminated portion is known as the terminator, and the straight line joining the ends of the terminator is that used in this problem. This line is always perpendicular to a line from the Moon to the Sun (the horns being always turned away from the Sun), so that its position can be predicted from the geometrical relations of the Earth, Sun and Moon. This enables the limb to observe to be determined.

One Day Telleth Another

MANY books have been published on descriptive astronomy for general readers, ranging from simple stories intended to interest children in the starry heavens to surveys of celestial fact and theory requiring the intelligent attention of mature minds to comprehend them. All such works tend to remove the heavens farther and farther from the earth, though to early peoples these were complementary parts of a living universe. The quaint figures which, in ancient times, marked the positions and forms of the zodiacal and other constellations have disappeared from celestial globes and maps, and the goddess Urania has lost her place among the other muses. One Day Telleth Another By Stephen A. Ionides Margaret L. Ionides. Pp. xii + 324 + 31 plates. (London: Edward Arnold and Co., 1939.) 10s. 6d. net.

The Newton-Denning Method for Computing Meteor Paths with a Celestial Globe

The Newton-Denning Method for Computing Meteor Paths with a Celestial Globe

The Astronomical Ceiling-Decoration in the Tomb of Senmut (XVIIIth Dynasty)

The recently discovered astronomical ceiling-decoration in the tomb of Senmut (XVIIIth dynasty; about 1500 B.C.) follows, in general, the same prototype as the well-known ceiling in the Ramesseum (XIXth dynasty; about 1250 B.C.); the ceiling of Seti I (XIXth dynasty; about 1300 B.C.) follows a different tradition. Both traditions contain elements of different antiquity. Important new features of the Senmut ceiling are the 12 monthly circles subdivided into 24 hourly sectors (unfinished ≪ monthly star-charts ≫ ?), and the two ≪ meridian cords ≫ (connected with the ceremony of the ≪ stretching of the cord ≫ involving the observation of an upper culmination of Zeta Ursae Majoris?). For a tentative identification of several stars and constellations represented in the circumpolar group of the northern panel or mentioned in the decanologue of the southern panel, a celestial globe was used. The precession of the equinoxes was taken care of by the drilling of several pairs of polar holes; the latitude of Thebes was taken as the altitude of the pole. A repetition of the experiment in a Zeiss planetarium is suggested. The possibility of an exact dating of the three ceilings of the XVIIIth and XIXth dynasties by the use of their planetary data is pointed out.

The Work of John Cary and His Successors

THE name of John Cary is associated for nearly three-quarters 1 of a century with Geographical publications, including canal plans, road-maps, maps, atlases, road-books and itineraries, as well as geological maps and sections and terrestrial and celestial globes. With the exception of the globes, the exhibition now arranged, while not exhaustive, will be found to be very completely representative of his productivity, and of that of his associates and successors. In the manufacture of globes he worked with his better-krlown brother, William Cary (I759-I825), who had a considerable reputation as an astronomical instrument maker, and in his cartographical work he was associated with others of his name, his brothers Francis Cary and George Cary, and his sons John and George. The business and, apparently, the whole stock of engraved plates were transferred to George Frederick Cruchley, of 8I, Fleet Street. in I850, who, in his turn, appears to have sold all this cartographical material in I875 or I876 to Messrs. Gall & Inglis, of Edinburgh.

Terrestrial and Celestial Globes, Their History and Construction

Terrestrial and Celestial Globes, Their History and Construction

Terrestrial and celestial globes: Their history and construction

(1922). Terrestrial and celestial globes: Their history and construction. Scottish Geographical Magazine: Vol. 38, No. 4, pp. 244-246.

Terrestrial and Celestial Globes, their history and construction including a consideration of their value as aids in the study of geography and astronomy. By Edward Luther Stevenson, New Haven, Yale University Press, published for the Hispanic Society of America, 1921, Volume I, xxvi + 218 pp., 95 plates; Volume II, xii + 292 pp., 72 plates.

<i>Terrestrial and Celestial Globes, their history and construction including a consideration of their value as aids in the study of geography and astronomy</i>. By Edward Luther Stevenson, New Haven, Yale University Press, published for the Hispanic Society of America, 1921, Volume I, xxvi + 218 pp., 95 plates; Volume II, xii + 292 pp., 72 plates.

&lt;italic&gt;Terrestrial and Celestial Globes: their History and Construction&lt;/italic&gt;. By &lt;sc&gt;Edward Luther Stevenson&lt;/sc&gt;, Ph.D., LL.D. In two volumes. (New Haven: Yale University Press. 1921. Pp. xxvi, 218; xi, 291. $12.00.)

&lt;italic&gt;Terrestrial and Celestial Globes: their History and Construction&lt;/italic&gt;. By &lt;sc&gt;Edward Luther Stevenson&lt;/sc&gt;, Ph.D., LL.D. In two volumes. (New Haven: Yale University Press. 1921. Pp. xxvi, 218; xi, 291. $12.00.)

Terrestrial and Celestial Globes. Stevenson, Edward Luther

<i>Terrestrial and Celestial Globes</i>. Stevenson, Edward Luther

Terrestrial and Celestial Globes: Their History and Construction

Terrestrial and Celestial Globes: Their History and Construction

A Portrait of Pythagoras

The fairly numerous ideal portraits of Homer and the Sages which have come down to us, and the yet more numerous headless herms whose inscriptions bear witness to the frequency of such works in antiquity, naturally suggest that others may exist in our museums representing the more famous rulers and philosophers of the sixtli century, among whom the most interesting and important is Pythagoras. From the Renaissance onwards, archæologists have been on the alert to discover a portrait with some claim to represent him, and no less than seven identifications have been at various times proposed. None, however, has found anything like universal acceptance, in spite of the fact that the numismatic evidence is fuller and more trustworthy than usual. A series of Samian coins show the philosopher either seated or standing before a celestial globe set on a pillar. He is richly draped and is bearded, while a band, whose exact nature is difficult to determine, usually runs round his head. The figures are, however, merely generalized and conventional like those of other poets and sages on the coin types figured by Bernoulli. The Paris contorniate must be reserved for fuller treatment, as a discussion of the literary evidence is important for its right understanding.

The Observation of Meteors, with Especial Reference to the Leonids

DURING the next few years a large amount of attention will be given to meteoric astronomy in general and to the great shower of Leonids in particular. The present may, therefore, be an appropriate time to refer to a few points connected with this interesting branch. It has often occurred to the writer that it would greatly facilitate the comparison of different materials if observers adopted one uniform method of recording meteor-flights. Some merely give estimated compass bearings, and a rough guess at the altitude and inclination of path, others give the place and direction according to conspicuous stars near, others simply mark the courses on a map without reading off the individual positions, while others give the R.A. and Decl. of both beginning and ending of every object observed. It would be a great advantage if every one tabulated results according to the latter method. It can easily be done if the tracks, as observed, are pencilled upon a celestial globe or star chart, and the positions read off; and this is a much more exact method than describing the flights by stars near which they happen to pass.

A New Precessional Globe.

To facilitate the understanding of the effects of precession, I have made a new arrangement of the celestial globe. A globe mounted in the new way can give a representation of the starry heavens for every place on the earth, and for any date, both past and future.

The Astronomical Observatory of Pekin

IN the course of a lecture delivered before the Pekin Literary Society, on the Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese capital, Prof. Russell said that it is the oldest in the world. The eldest in Europe is that of Denmark, founded in 1576 by Frederick III., at which Tycho Brahé made his famous observations. The Royal Observatory at Paris was not opened till 1671, and that of Greenwich three years later. The Pekin Observatory was established in 1279, in the reign of Kublai Khan, the first emperor of the Mongol dynasty, and three of the original instruments yet remain. In 1378, these instruments were probably used in observing Halley's comet, and they will be used twenty-two years hence to witness its next return. If the visitor enters by a door in the south wall of the Observatory, he comes into a court running east and west. In this court are kept the three original instruments. There were four at one time, but the fourth, a celestial globe, has disappeared. Kuo Shouching, a Chinese astronomer, who flourished in the reign of Kublai Khan, was the maker of these. Before their construction, bronze astronomical instruments, which were made about the year 1050, were used, first at K'ai Fêng Fu, the capital of Honan, whence they were removed to Pekin. Kuo Shouching found these worn out by age, and otherwise unsuitable, as the height of the Pole differed by 4°; and so he constructed four instruments, of which three now remain. In the east end of the court is the equatorial armillary, which is made of bronze, and consists of (1) a massive horizontal circle, held up at four corners by four dragons, each of which with one upraised palm supports the bronze circle, while round the other palm a chain is passed and fastened behind to a small bronze pillar,—the dragons are themselves works of art; (2) a double vertical circle firmly connected with the horizontal circle at its north and south points, and supported at its lowest point by a bronze pillar. On the vertical circle, which, like the other, is fixed, at a distance equal to the latitude of Pekin, that is 40°, are two pivots corresponding to the North and South Poles. Revolving round these pivots are two circles, one double, corresponding to the solstitial colore—that is, the great circle passing through the Poles and the solstices; the other single, corresponding to the equinoctial solure—that is, the great circle through the Poles and the equinoxes. Half-way between the Poles is another circle, which corresponds to the equator, the rim of which is let into the two colure circles. There is also another circle, making with the latter an angle of 23½, and corresponding to the ecliptic. Finally, inside these circles, all of which revolve together round the polar axis, there is another double circle, representing the polar circle or declination, and between the rims of this double circle revolves the hollow tube through which observations were made. It is probable that there were originally threads across the tube to deüne the line of sight. There are in the circles 365¼°—that is, a degree for each day in the year—and each degree is subdivided into divisions of 10′ each. When using this instrument the observer turned round the inner circle till the heavenly body was sighted in the centre of the tube, and then the distance of the star was read from the Pole on the polar circle, and its position on the equator by the equatorial circle. The complex construction was in some particulars of no use whatever: the ecliptic and one of the colures were useless. At the west end of the court are the other two instruments, the equatorial, or astrolabe, and the altitude and azimuth instrument. The former is remarkably simple in its construction. There is a fixed bronze circle placed parallel to the equator, and there is another double circle perpendicular to it, which moves round an axis passing through the centre of and perpendicular to the equatorial circle. Of course there is also the hollow tube for observation. This instrument is free from the clumsiness and complexity of the first-named instrument, and in the form of its mounting much more closely resembles those in use at present in all Observatories than the other instruments. The altitude and azimuth instrument consists of two circles, one horizontal and fixed, the other vertical and movable round an axis passing through

July Meteors

BETWEEN July 8 and 14, 111 shooting stars were recorded herein 113/4 hours of observation. The paths of these, reproduced upon an 18-inch celestial globe, enabled me to fix the radiant points of 12 showers with considerable distinctness:—

Dante and the Southern Cross

THE question “where Dante could have learned about this constellation” (ante, p. 152) has been discussed by most modern commentators on the passage referred to. The general conclusion arrived at seems to be that it was through the delineation of the “quattro stelle” on Arabian celestial globes. The best scientific discussion of the question will be found in Humboldt's Kosmos ii. 205, 6 (ed. 1870). Might not, however, the line “Non viste mai fuor ch' alla prima gente” suggest that Dante's knowledge was derived from some record or tradition, of the visibility of these and other southern stars to the inhabitants of the Mediterranean shores before the precession of the equinoxes carried them below their horizon? “Prima gente”—generally rendered “our first parents”—recalls irresistibly Horace's “prisca gens mortalium.”

Notice of an extraordinary luminous appearance seen in the heaven on the 17th of March, 1843, in a letter to S. H. Christie, Esq., Sec. R. S., by Sir John F. W. Herschel, Bart., F. R. S

My Dear Sir, —This evening, at half-past seven o’clock, I received notice from one of my servants of a luminous appearance in the sky, visible towards the S. W., which I immediately ran out to ob­serve, and which, as it differed in some remarkable particulars from any phenomenon of the kind I have ever before observed or seen described, I think it not unlikely to prove interesting to the Royal Society. The evening was one of uncommon serenity and beauty: the moon, only thirty-eight hours after the full, having considerable south declination, was not yet risen. In consequence, the sun being already far enough below the horizon to leave only a faint glow of twilight in the west, the stars shone with unsubdued brilliancy, no cloud being visible in any quarter. Orion in particular was seen in all its splendour; and commencing below that constellation, and stretch­ing obliquely westward and downwards, nearly, but not quite to the horizon, was seen the luminous appearance in question. Its general aspect was that of a perfectly straight, narrow band of con­siderably bright white cloud, thirty degrees in length, and about a degree and a quarter, or a degree and a half in breadth in the middle of its length; its brightness nearly uniform, except towards the ends, where it faded gradually, so that to define its exact termination at either end was difficult. However, by the best judgement I could form, it might be considered as terminating, to the eastward or fol­lowing side, at, or a very little beyond, the stars t, k , λ Leporis, which stars (being of the fifth, or at most 5.4 magnitude) were pretty con­spicuously visible; from which circumstance the degree of bright­ness of the ground of the sky in that region may be well estimated. Between these stars and μ Leporis, the luminous band then commenced, involving neither of them, but more nearly contiguous to k and λ than to μ . From thence its course was towards π Eridani, which star must have been covered by it, and was not seen; this judgement of its direction having been formed by noticing that it passed clearly above γ Eridani, and as clearly below and parallel to the direction of δ, ε Eridani, which two stars being dimmed by the vapours of tie horizon and the twilight, were so little conspicuous as perfectly to account for π not having been noticed. At the point of its passage between γ and δ it was still considerably bright, and as it terminated with somewhat more abruptness at a point beyond ε (then about 12° high) than at its upper extremity, I am rather disposed to consider this end as somewhat curtailed by the vapours Making no allowance, however, for this, and estimating its visible termina­tion at a point on a celestial globe nearly opposite ζ Eridani (which star however was not noticed at the time), the length above assigned to the luminous band (30°) has been concluded by measurement on the globe.