Sir William Herschel (1738-1822) was one of the most prolific early astronomers.
An accomplished musician, composer and telescope maker, he and his sister Caroline
discovered/cataloged over 5,000 deep space objects. The first catalog was published in 1802
with 2,500 objects. The second publication was in 1820 with 5,000 objects.
Herschel's 40 ft Telescope **2
As a prolific telescope maker he was world renowned for building large, state of the art telescopes.
For 50 years his most famous 40 ft scope was the largest in the world.
Caroline Herschel **3
King George III funded the development of the 40 ft and between 1789-1840 it stood on the
grounds of the Herschel's home. The King also provided Caroline Herschel (1750-1848) with
a pension of £50 as William's assistant, making her the first woman in England to be paid as
an astronomer. Caroline was her brother’s constant companion and assistant in recording
their astronomical discoveries.
Sir John Herschel **4
After Sir William’s death in 1822 his son, Sir John Herschel (1792-1871), continued his family’s
work of discovering and cataloging the visual universe. John travelled to South Africa to
expand the catalog by studying the southern skies. He added 1754 objects and published
an updated version of the General Catalogue in 1864.
John Dreyer **5
The catalog was later corrected and edited by John Dreyer (1852-1926), supplemented with the work of many
other 19th century astronomers and published again as the New General Catalog (NGC).
This version had 7,840 deep-sky objects. The NGC numbering is still the most common label
identifying these objects today.
There have been continuing updates and corrections applied to the NGC including two as recently as 2009 and 2019.
The Herschels were an amazing family! Here is a sampling of their accomplishments and discoveries:
Sir William Herschel
Discoverer Uranus including 2 of its moons and 2 moons of Saturn
Discovered infrared radiation
Deep space surveys
First President of the Royal Astronomical Society
Pioneered astronomical spectroscopy
An accomplished musician
Composer of 24 symphonies and many concertos
Maker and international seller of 60+ state of the art telescopes
Builder of the world’s largest telescope (at that time) - 4 ft dia. mirror and 40 ft. focal length
Discovered/cataloged 848 binary/multi-star systems
Discovered/cataloged over 2,400 deep space objects
Caroline Herschel
Recorded and catalogued thousands of observations in collaboration with brother, William
Independently discovered 14 deep space objects
Helped with the polishing of many mirrors for high performance telescopes
Discovered 8 comets
Was the first paid female astronomer in England and the first female in a government position
Awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1828
Published the final version catalog of hers and William’s work
Awarded a Gold Medal for Science by the King of Prussia
Sir John Herschel
Was one of the founders of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1820
Awarded the Gold Medal of the Astronomical Society in 1826 and 1836
Awarded the Copley Medal by the Royal Society for contributions in mathematics
Discovered/catalogued over 1754 deep space objects in the southern hemisphere
Awarded the Copley Medal by the Royal Society for contributions in astronomy
Made numerous important contributions to the science/chemistry of photography
Published papers and articles on many topics including entries for meteorology, physical geography and the telescope in the 8th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica
