August 21st 1785 birth of George Bishop.
George Bishop (1785- 1861) was born on August
21st 1785 in Leicester he made his fortune as a wine merchant, but his great
passion in life was astronomy. In 1836
in the grounds of his home in South Villa in Regent`s Park, London he built an astronomical
observatory.
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| George Bishop' s Regents Park Observatory |
The
observatory was equipped with a 7 inch Dollond refractor. The Rev William
Rutter Dawes used the telescope from 1839-1844 until poor health forced him to
leave. In October 1844 John Russell Hind became the observatory`s astronomer.
Between 1847 and 1854 Hind discovered 10 asteroids
from the observatory, they were, 7 Iris, 8 Flora, 12 Victoria, 14 Irene, 18
Melpomene, 19 Fortuna, 22 calliope, 23 Thalia, 27 Eutepe and 30 Urania.
Another asteroid 29 Amphitrite was discovered
in 1854 by Albert Marth Hind`s young assistant.
After the
death of George Bishop in 1861, the observatory dome and instruments were moved
to Twickenham in west London to avoid the more polluted skies of the capital.
The
observatory operated until 1877 when the instruments and library were donated
to Royal Observatory at Naples.
The original
Regent`s Park observatory no longer exists.
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