Paramatta Catalogue

[glenc]

This book normally costs a fortune but you can download it for free.

Richardson, A Catalogue of 7385 Stars, chiefly in the Southern Hemisphere prepared from observations made in the years 1822, 1823, 1824, 1825 and 1826 at the observatory at Parramatta, New South Wales, founded by Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane

The free 27.7Mb pdf download is at http://www.archive.org/details/catalogueof7385s00richrich

or you can buy it for $3,600 from http://www.hordern.com/departments/miscellaneous/index.aspx

[erick]

Even better - download the mobi file - 215kByte - down in the blink of an eye. Drop it onto my Kindle. Saved myself $3,600. Thanks Glen!

[jjjnettie]

Cheers Glen, thanks for the heads up. :)

[mikerr]

Thanks Glen, it downloaded fairly quickly. Nicely laid out with the drawings of the Observatory at the begining.

Michael

[erick]

Hmm..... I think all the tables are missing from the mobi file. No problem, it was an interesting read - especially about the "computer" from the 1800s!

[glenc]

It is interesting to match the footnotes with clusters and nebulae, for example when Dunlop made this star catalogue,[1] (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/#_ftn1) he noted that star 3807 was a “fine blue star,” but he did not know it was a planetary nebula. Herschel recognised this to be a blue planetary nebula (NGC 3918) he had observed, according to his 1835 letter to Maclear.[2] (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/#_ftn2)
[1] (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/#_ftnref1) Richardson, A Catalogue of 7385 Stars, chiefly in the Southern Hemisphere prepared from observations made in the years 1822, 1823, 1824, 1825 and 1826 at the observatory at Paramatta (with one r), New South Wales, founded by Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane.
[2] (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/#_ftnref2) B. & N. Warner, Maclear & Herschel Letters & Diaries at the Cape of Good Hope 1834-1838, Cape Town, 1984, p. 108.

[glenc]

Dunlop's 1827 printed catalogue of clusters and nebulae is here:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/select/1...&thumbPage=all (http://www.jstor.org/stable/select/107841?seq=1&Search=yes&searchText=%22James+Dunlop%22&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch %3FSearch%3DSearch%26Query%3Dau%3A% 2522James%2520Dunlop%2522%26wc%3Don&prevSearch=&resultsServiceName=null&thumbView=thumbs&thumbPage=all)
I also have his original notes, 740 pages on microfilm.
"Dunlop, J 1983, Reel M1709, National Library of Australia. Miscellaneous Loose Sheets, 1819-1826, Notes on the Magellanic Clouds, Nebulae, etc., Various Fragments of Catalogues, Repetitious on the Sun with Reichenbach’s Circle, for the Winter Solstice 1824, Astronomy Notebook, Miscellaneous Loose Manuscripts, Royal Astronomical Society Records, 1819-1940."

[glenc]

Approximate Places of Double Stars in the Southern Hemisphere, observed at Paramatta in New South Wales
This catalogue is at http://books.google.com.au/books?id=0t7NAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA257&lpg=PA257&dq=Approximate+Places+of+Double+Sta rs+in+the+Southern+Hemisphere,+obse rved+at+Paramatta+in+New+South+Wale s&source=bl&ots=81nd-j-E5G&sig=l8L1uQqtJFXxbWn7L14wR1-xNw8&hl=en&ei=igaaTo_DE_GgmQW8w7GgAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Approximate%20Places%20of%20Doubl e%20Stars%20in%20the%20Southern%20H emisphere%2C%20observed%20at%20Para matta%20in%20New%20South%20Wales&f=false
page 257 to 275

See also Andrew James at http://homepage.mac.com/andjames/Page034.htm

[glenc]

A new analysis of Dunlop's double star catalogue is now available.

Assessment of the accuracy of measures in the 1829 southern double star catalogue of James Dunlop
Roderick R Letchford, Graeme L White, Carolyn J Brown

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 510, Issue 4, March 2022

https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/510/4/5330/6507584?login=true

[Startrek]

Historically, probably the most underrated and lesser known astronomers of the early to mid 1800’s
My son lived in Dunlop St North Parramatta for a number of years and we often visited Parramatta Park ( many different areas ) with the grandkids. To be honest I never found a plaque or any reference to James Dunlop or his observatory in the Park itself. Maybe there is but I never found it ?

Brilliant post and link

Thanks

Martin

[PaulSthcoast]

For those who may be interested

Information in regards to the Parramatta Observatory
and The Parramatta Catalogue in links below.

https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/technology/science/display/22735-sir-thomas-brisbane%60s-observatory

https://www.southastrodel.com/Page032.htm

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.parrapark.com.au/assets/Shaping-the-Domain-brochures/Shaping-the-Domain-The-Parramatta-Observatory-1821-1848-Parramatta-Park-Brochure.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjat4zk-Zj9AhV5-DgGHXaTBUkQFnoECAwQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3v-SLRALhd_XLTwQ3ngwjT

Paul.

[Startrek]

Thanks Paul
Great research
To be honest I probably drove past that obelisk a dozen times and the remnants of the observatory piers etc…
However there’s no plaque or monument of James Dunlop, only Sir Thomas Brisbane who chartered the observatory and the work. James did most of the leg work observing the skies and documenting his findings over 20 years under candle light or oil lamp I suspect.
The only plaque or monument that I can find is his headstone at St Paul’s Anglican Church Kincumber on the NSW Central Coast

https://centralcoast.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p20041coll17/id/592/

If he were “Sir James Dunlop” then most probably a monument or plaque would have been built in Parramatta Park honouring his name and his work

Cheers
Martin

[glenc]

William Herschel and James Dunlop were the foremost discoverers of large, bright deep sky objects.
If you list the 200 largest and 200 brightest galaxies and the 100 largest and 100 brightest globular clusters you will find that:
189 were discovered by William Herschel
51 were discovered by James Dunlop
28 were discovered by John Herschel
25 were discovered by Charles Messier and
22 were discovered by Pierre Mechain

[Startrek]

Thanks Glen
Yes James discovered quite a few under our skies
I guess the point I wanted to make is that you ask most amateur astronomers ( below the age of say 50 ) who is James Dunlop and 9/10 say , don’t know. But they do know Herschel and Messier.

Cheers
Martin