James Dunlop's notes are online

[glenc]

James Dunlop's handwritten notes are now available online at
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1127133798/findingaid#nla-obj-2611948293

This 447 page file describes the objects he found from Parramatta in 1826
J. Dunlop. Miscellaneous loose sheets (c. 360 ff), 1819 - 1826 (File 6)

On page 146 he says he moved to Mrs Elder's house on 7 March 1826

In his catalogue of clusters and nebulae he says he observed from 6" south and 1.78 seconds of time east of the Brisbane Observatory. That is from the red dot on this map
https://goo.gl/maps/ZW11vGskCETRnqKx5

A 1904 map shows that this land was owned by Mary Elder, James Dunlop and others. It was granted to them in 1841.
http://digital.sl.nsw.gov.au/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?embedded=tru e&toolbar=false&dps_pid=IE3703467

[glenc]

In his 1988 Parramatta Bicentenary book, Collinridge Rivett includes a drawing of Dunlop’s house. Rivett wrote that Dunlop lived on the north side of Hunter Street half way between Marsden St and the gates to St Johns Church. This seems to be wrong. That land was owned by Elizabeth Shelly and is 11" south of the Brisbane Observatory.

[Startrek]

Glen,
Great work in researching James Dunlop
My son lived in Dunlop St Parramatta for 5 years and we often took the grandkids to Parramatta Park where his observatory was located
Yes a lot of information is sketchy about Dunlop including the exact location of his observatory which was supposedly constructed mainly with timber.
He was assumed to buried in St Paul’s Anglican Church grounds at Kincumber on the Central Coast as his headstone is there
I don’t think he was given the accolades he deserved for work identifying many objects in our southern skies, be they accurate or not so accurate.The night skies around Parramatta in the early 1800’s would have been Bortle 1 and pristine but his telescopes optics would have been quite poor
He died at the age of 54 which in those times was a reasonable age

Well done !!
Thanks for posting
Martin

[glenc]

Thanks for your comments Martin.

Dunlop's optics were poor and he included a lot of faint double stars in his catalogue because he thought they were nebulae.

He probably observed from the Scots church's land which was vacant until 1840.
https://goo.gl/maps/BuMmMw122dn2ebWo6

[ngcles]

Hi Glen,

Thank you for providing this wonderful resource.

Best,

L.

[bigjoe]

How good was Brisbane to start it out of his own pocket..And really Dunlop and Rumker not really getting on due to differences and the observatories ultimate decay was lamentable.
Bigjoe

[glenc]

I used to think that Dunlop made his catalogue of clusters and nebulae from his house on the north side of Hunters St, half way between Marsden St and the gates to St Johns.

Now I think he made his catalogue from 91 Marsdens St because
1. He says in his notes that he move to Elders house (see below)
2. He says in his catalogue that he observed from 6" south and 1.78s east of the observatory. (see below)
3. A 1904 map shows that he and others owned a block of land there. (see below)
4. The Elders were fellow Scots.
5. The Elders seem to have named their daughter Eliza Dunlop Elder after him.

Prior to 1840 only three men found more than 100 star clusters, nebulae and galaxies - Sirs William and John Herschel and Dunlop. I would like to see a plaque in Parramatta commemorating his work.

[glenc]

Thanks Les and Joe

[gaseous]

Thanks for a link to those resources Glen. A 9" scope with a 2700FL would be giving some decent magnification! (assuming the optics weren't complete crap).

[glenc]

Who found the 200 largest NGC galaxies?

1 William Herschel found 107
2 James Dunlop found 20
3 Pierre Mechain found 16
4 John Herschel found 15
5 Charles Messier found 8

The other 34 large galaxies were found by 23 people

James Dunlop was also the first to catalogue the star clusters and nebulae in the two Magellan Clouds.

[glenc]

Who found the 100 largest globular clusters?

1 William Herschel found 33
2 James Dunlop found 21
3 Messier found 15
4 John Herschel found 5
5 Lacaille found 4
6 Mechain also found 4

The other 18 globular clusters were found by 14 people

[glenc]

Patrick. Dunlop's optics were poor. Many of the "nebulae" in his catalogue are faint double stars.

[glenc]

Names of planetary and lunar features can be found on the Gazeteer of Planetary Nomenclature here: https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/

Unfortunately no planetary and lunar features are named after Lacaille, Dunlop or Mechain.

There is a faint asteroid called Jamesdunlop
https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=58424;orb=1;cov=0;log =0;cad=0#orb

[DPG77]

Thanks for sharing this resource. James Dunlop was an important part of an interesting chapter in Australian observational astronomy.

Cheers,

David.