The Rambling Astronomer

Anne Sheepshanks inherited the estate of her brother Richard Sheepshanks, who was secretary of the Royal Astronomical Society. Although not an astronomer herself she would donate vast amounts of money, books and equipment to astronomers.

These are adopted Yorkshire astronomers. When I was Curator of Astronomy at the Yorkshire Museum in York I christened John Goodricke and Edward Pigott as the 'Fathers of Variable Star Astronomy' because of the work they did. John Goodricke was deaf and Edward Pigott dressed like a 'dandy' but in just 5 years between 1781-1786 they changed the face of astronomy by explainimng what variable stars ar...

Jesse Ramsden was the great grand nephew of Abraham Sharp, there was clearly an astronomical gene running through this family. The instrumnets he made were of exceptional quality and he even invented a type of eyepice, the Ramsden Eyepiece. Alhough his instruments were very good one critism of Ramsden was that he was nearly always late in delivering the instruments that had been ordered.

Charles Green 1734-1771 was born in Wentworth South Yorkshire and was the astronomer appointed to go with Captain Cook in 1769 to observe the Transit of Venus from Tahiti.

Although not born in Yorkshire John Michell was born in Nottinghamshire he is ofetn depicted as an honorary Yorkshireman, as he became the rector of Thoirnhill near Dewsbury from 1767 until his death in 1783. Although he made may sciebtific contributions in astronomy was the coming up of the idea of Black Holes!

Although Henry Hindley was not born in Yorkshire he spent most of his life in York , he was a clock maker. However he attracts my attention brcuse he designed the first true equatorial mount for a telescope. He did it not for astronomical purposes but to show how good he was mechanically at making things.

Jeremiah Shakerly another unknown Yorkshire astronomer. Born in Halifax he moved to India to make his fortune and made the first planned telescopic observation there as well as very nearly discovering a comet.

Another Yorkshireman who is probably unknown. Abraham Sharp fro near Bradford was the assistant to John Flamsteed the first Astronomer Royal. Without the massive help from Sharp, Flamsteed's great star catalogue would not have been completed.

William Gascoigne was one of a small group of astronomers from the north of England who made massive contribution in the 1600s, all would die around the time of the English Civil War. Gascoigne was the only Yorkshireman, he invented the Filar Micrometer, this is what today we would call a cross hair wire, although he did need a spider to help him!!.

Born near Northallerton he wrote several books on astronomy as well as almanacs which are very different from the almanacs we see today.

A friend of Henry Savile, John Chamber lectured on astronomy , he helped Savile decide against introducing the Gregorian calendar in 1582. He is buried in St George's Chapel in Windsor.

Think of maths lessons at school and think of log tables. Although Henry Briggs of Halifax did not invent them he brought them into use in English schools. He also helped produce some of the earliest star globes in the country.

One of the most prestigious posts in astronomy is to be the Savilian Professor of Astronomy at Oxford University. The post was created by a Yorkshire man, Sir Henry Savile.

In 1543 the Polish astronomer Copernicus dared to suggest that the Sun was at the centre of the solar system rather than the Earth. The first Englishman to support this was idea was John Field of Ardsley near Leeds. He had an incredible life including at one time being teacher to the young princess Elizabeth Tudor. The future Queen Elizabeth I

It is difficult to stress just how important Monasteries were in the middle ages, not just from a religious stand but also in a scientific way. They were with their libraries very important centres of learning. Here is a little flavour of what might have happened within the monasteries in Yorkshire .

One of the most important scholars of the Anglo Saxon period. He met and worked with Charlemagne in Europe who was very interested in astronomy and their work together helped save much astronomical knowledge from the period of classical Greek astronomy in their great library at Aachen

It is always a curiosity as to why the date of Easter changes every year. It is one of the most important Christian feast dates, yet unlike Christmas the dates are variable. The reason behind this is due to a church meeting in Yorkshire in the year 664 CE, here is what happened.

Almost unknown within scientific circles Gildas a 6th century monk gives a report of a comet or asteroid strike in 536 a Tunguska type event that produced a nuclear winter. But why does no one know about him and the event. Here is his story.

When the Romans invaded Britain in 43 CE the main tribe in what is now Yorkshire would have been the Brigantes. They would have had a Celtic background including their beliefs in astronomy. So here is a brief look at Celtic Astronomy, as would have been known in Yorkshire.

If you drive along the A1M motorway near the Yorkshire town of Boroughbridge you will notice 3 massive stone pillars around 200 metres away. These are the Devil's Arrows, and this is their story.

Refereed to as the Stonehenge of the North, the Thornborough Henges are a series of three large circular ditches that appear to form the same pattern as Orion's Belt. They are arranged inn a similar way to the Pyramids in Egypt. However they are around 1,000 years older.

Another bright star on Star Atlas which is not listed by Flamsteed but was catalogued by Benjamin Gould.

A small faint star in the constellation of the small bear which appears as a single star but is in fact a quadruple system.

This is the first in a series of observations and notes I have made as I have continues my search for high latitude novae. I have not discovered any novae but I came across stars of interest. In this case La Superba or Y Canes Venatici

Here is an investigation into the star 8 Ursa Minor and nearby stars.