John Russell Hind

John Russell Hind (given in the literature as John R. Hind ) ( born May 12, 1823 in Nottingham, † 23 December 1895 in Twickenham ) was a British astronomer.

Life and work

Hind was hired in 1840 as an assistant in the magnetic department at the Greenwich Observatory. Here he worked under George Biddell Airy. In 1844 he participated in the expedition to determine the longitude of Valencia in Venezuela.

In the following years he worked as an observer at the private observatory of George Bishop in Regent's Park. Here he discovered 1847-1854 a total of ten asteroids and several comets. The naming of his third asteroid (Victoria) has been controversial - until then, it was unusual to name the asteroid after living persons. Hind pointed out, however, that he had named the celestial body not by the then British Queen Victoria, but after the Roman goddess of victory.

Hind calculated the orbits of 70 celestial bodies ( planets, asteroids and comets ). In addition, he was also involved in the observation of variable celestial bodies, where he discovered the deep red, variable star R Leporis in the constellation hare ( Lepus ) and the variability of the star μ Cephei in the constellation Cepheus. Furthermore, he discovered the star T Tauri in the constellation Taurus (Taurus ) a gaseous nebula, whose brightness is variable ( Hind's Variable Nebula - the fog reflects the light of a variable star ). The he discovered Nova Ophiuchi 1848 ( V841 Oph ) in constellation Ophiuchus ( Ophiuchus ) was the first Nova modern times (since the supernova of 1604).

Best known Hind was, however, he served as editor of the important for the former Marine Nautical Almanac, the " Superintendent " 1853-1891.

Honors

For his achievements Hind received in 1853 the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society. In 1855 he was awarded the Royal Medal of the Royal Society. At the Paris commemorative coin of the year 1868, which was coined on the occasion of the centenary of asteroid discovery, Hind is pictured next three subsequent multiple explorers: Hermann Goldschmidt, Karl Theodor Robert Luther and JC Watson.

In his honor, a crater on the Moon and the asteroid (1897 ) Hind were appointed.

See also: List of asteroids

Works

  • Astronomical vocabulary. London 1852
  • Introduction to astronomy. London 1863
  • On the expected return of the great comet of 1264 and 1556. London 1848
  • The solar System. London in 1846
  • Descriptive treatise of comets. London 1859
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