John Grigg (astronomer)

John Grigg ( born June 4, 1838 in London, † June 20 1920 in Thames (New Zealand) ) was a New Zealand amateur astronomer.

Curriculum vitae

John Grigg was born in London, the youngest son of James and Ruth Grigg. His father was the managing director and finance director of a London furniture store and gave his son a solid musical, scientific and business education. 1858 married Emma Mitchell Grigg, 1863 both emigrated to New Zealand and settled in Auckland. After Emma's death ( 1867), Grigg moved in 1868 to Thames, a blossoming due to gold discoveries city. There he founded a furniture business, which he later expanded to music.

Grigg gave singing lessons, composing, conducting co-founded by him Thames Choral Society and for ten years was the organist and one of the curators of the Baptist church.

1871 Grigg married Sarah Allaway, but which 1874 died unexpectedly. In 1887, he married Jane Henderson. Grigg and his three wives had six sons, three daughters and one adopted son.

Astronomy

The Venus passages 1874 and 1882 aroused Griggs earlier interest in astronomy again. In 1884 he built behind the residential and commercial building at the Pollen Street a wooden observatory for a small refractor of 90mm aperture. In 1894 he retired from business to devote his scientific inclinations can spend more time. He moved the observatory to a new location on Queen Street; It was now two storeys, with a working space and a workshop on the ground floor. Both observatories housed each in a small farming a small transit telescope which Grigg knew the time service for Thames.

Grigg held popular astronomical lectures and wrote a regular newspaper column astronomical. His observatory was always open to visitors.

Grigg was one of the astro photographic pioneers in New Zealand. He took photographs of sunspots, a solar eclipse, the moon and comets.

Among other astronomical observations as regular sunspot series he was interested mainly comets whose orbits he pursued and calculated. He observed the known and anticipated comet, but also investigated systematically for new comets, where he used a self-created list of mists in order not to confuse this with a comet. Grigg was first comet Encke during its return in 1898.

Grigg discovered four comets, three of which now bear his name:

• On July 22, 1902 Grigg found a new comet with a systematic search. During six nights until August 3, he could get 14 position measurements and calculate a path. The faintness of the comet that in " mists " rich sky area and the low accuracy of position measurements Griggs prevented, however, that other astronomers find the comet and could follow up, so that the only observer Grigg was this comet. On May 17, discovered in 1922 J. F. Skjellerup in South Africa, the comet again, so that it now bears the name 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup.

• On April 17, 1903 Grigg discovered again a comet, he observed 29 nights until May 26. This time was the comet - C/1903 H1 ( Grigg ) - will be followed by other astronomers.

• A on March 19, 1906 discovered by comet Grigg had been found by David Ross in Melbourne in February - Comet C/1906 F1 ( Ross).

• On April 8, 1907 Grigg discovered a comet which was 5 days later independently found by John Mellish. The comet - C/1907 G1 ( Grigg - Mellish ) - could be tracked by astronomers until May 14.

The Astronomical Society of the Pacific awarded Grigg total 2 Donohoe Medals for his comet discoveries. He was from 1897, member of the British Astronomical Association and was elected to the Royal Astronomical Society in 1906. A lunar crater is named after Grigg.