Friday December 14, 1894

R.A.S. meeting. Eclipse Com^ee 2.30, Photo. Com^ee 3.15, Council 4-6.15.
M^r Crisp came down to arrange about roof & dome of Altaz. building.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

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RH says..... The RAS council meeting included a contribution by Frederick Howlett, a rector and astronomer dedicated to the study of sunspots. This caught my eye as I have recently been looking at the history of solar observation for a display called 'Solar Story' opening at the ROG in January. This will coincide with a new planetarium show, Secrets of the Sun, and the ROG's contribution to a citizen science project working with the data of the STEREO mission. It is a good opportunity to highlight the work of Maunder and the observatory's magnetic department.

Friday November 9, 1894

R.A.S. Com^ee & Council meeting beginning at 2.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

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Mr Swasey called – Gas failed. Mr Simmonds turned it off in the Chronometer room.

Frank Dyson, Chief Assistant

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RH says..... The report of the RAS Council meeting can be found here. The meeting included a paper by Rev W. Sidgreaves on 'Solar Observations at Stonyhurst College Observatory', prompting a discussion on spectroscopic observations of sunspots and a long response from E. Walter Maunder, the head of the Royal Observatory's solar observation programme. There is also mention of Thomas Lewis's observations of a binary star with the 28-inch telescope. Responding to this, Maunder said that Lewis's observation was "a testimony to his skill and keenness of sight as a double-star observer; and it may also be regarded as satisfactory as showing the defining-power of the new refractor at Greenwich." In support of this point he added that on the previous Monday night he had observed Mars's satellites with it: "There was not the smallest difficulty in seeing and measuring" them.

Friday March 9, 1894

R.A.S. Meeting. Shewed photo’s taken with 28ⁱⁿ telescope corrected for photography. Also photo’s of Sunspot of February -------- and magnetic disturbances.
Went to M^r W.H. Whites R. Institution lecture on the making of a modern fleet.

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

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R.A.S. The Astronomer Royal shewed trial photos taken with 28ⁱⁿ.

Frank Dyson, Chief Assistant

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RH says..... An account of this day's Royal Astronomical Society meeting from The Observatory magazine can be downloaded here. Christie presented the photographs with caution, saying that although they hoped that they had nearly got the adjustment corrected they were still in the experimental stage. As Sir Howard Grubb was in town, having been at Greenwich the day before to discuss the proposed 26-inch telescope, he was present and asked to comment on the lens. Sounding rather defensive, he pointed out that "As this was the only large object-glass I ever had to make without having to make the mounting for it, I was placed under very peculiar circumstances, not being able to try it on a celestial object until it was at Greenwich" but, all things considered, he was pleased with the results. The data about sunspots and magnetic readings was presented by E. Walter Maunder, head of the ROG's Photographic and Spectroscopic Department and one of the RAS's secretaries.

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W.H. White's Royal Institution lecture was reported in The Times the next day. 'The Making of a Modern Fleet' focused on the programme of shipbuilding begun after the passing of the 1889 Naval Defence Act. White reported that all but eight or nine of the 70 ships paid for would be ready for service by the end of the month, the date specified in the Act. It was (according to White and The Times) "an unprecedented feat which no other country in the world could rival".

Sunday March 4, 1894

Returned from Sandwich this evening

William Christie, Astronomer Royal

RH says.... Not a great deal happened at the Royal Observatory on a Sunday that was not entirely routine and Christie evidently often went away over the weekend. Sandwich, a Kent port and home of the famous Royal St George's golf course, may have either been the home of a friend of relative, or Christie had a second house there. I've not yet seen anything in the RGO archives that mentions his connection Sandwich, so this is just a guess.

The routine work, that continued even on a Sunday, included the regular uninterrupted series of observations such as meterological readings, the daily photograph of the sun (depending on the weather) to record sunspot activity and, of course, time-determination observations and the maintenance of time-signals. From 1852 to 1893 the latter, sent by telegraph, were controlled by the Shepherd Master Clock, but from May 1893 this was superceded by a clock made by Dent & Co. (no. 2012), one of several made for the 1874 Transit of Venus expedition. It was very similar to the one pictured here, Dent 2016, which was adapted in 1923 to be used as the primary standard for the BBC's 'six-pip' time signal.

Incidentally, while Christie was off playing golf (or whatever he did do in Sandwich) this day saw the 219th anniversary (or 334th anniversary in 2009) of the Royal Warrant that officially appointed John Flamsteed as Astronomer Royal, or Charles II's "astronomical observator". See Greenwich Day-by-day for more Greenwich-related anniversaries like this.

Sunspots in February 1894

Rebekah Higgitt says.....
Having mentioned Maunder's interest in sunspots in yesterday's post, I checked The Astronomer Royal's Report to the Board of Visitors for 1894. This records that for sunspots, "the characteristic of the year [May 1893-May 1894] has ... been rather the great number of groups visible at the same time than the extent of any one of them". It was noted that "the groups of 1893 November and 1894 February were very large". Magnetic Observations were carried out by a different department, but they noted that, while this year in general saw much less magnetic activity than the year before, "there was a large increase occurring 1894 February, at the time of the great sun spot."

Maunder on the history and work of the ROG

Rebekah Higgitt says.....
A great place to get an idea of how the Royal Observatory in Greenwich operated in the late 19th century is E. Walter Maunder's Royal Observatory, Greenwich: a Glance at its History and Work published by the Religious Tract Society in 1900. It's the source for several of the images that I've used already in the blog. The full text can be found online in several formats at the Internet Archive.

Maunder (1851-1928) was the Observatory's Photographic and Spectroscopic Assistant. He was appointed in 1873 when this was a new post and a new department for the Observatory. He's probably best known for his statistical analysis of the sunspot photographs for which he was responsible. Using old records, including those of John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal, he highlighted the dearth of sunspot activity in the period between 1645 and 1715. This phenomenon was later named the Maunder minimum. Maunder also worked on spectroscopy, including making observations with Christie (who was Chief Assistant before becoming Astronomer Royal in 1881) to measure the radial velocity of stars.

In addition, Maunder was an active member of the Royal Astronomical Society and a founder of the British Astronomical Association - he also wrote many books and articles aimed at a popular audience. His second wife, Annie Scott Dill Russell (1868–1947), was also an astronomer who he met when she worked at the ROG between 1891 and 1895. This was the only brief period during which women worked at the Observatory in the 19th century (see notes for further details). She retired when they married in 1895, he retired in 1913, although both came back to work during the First World War.