The Caldwell Objects

sense approach to the science occasionally led
him astray, but his ideas were original and many
have been proved to be correct. Nearly all of his
published papers were destined to influence the
trend of European scientific progress. Many years
later, Johann Louis Emil Dreyer, author of A New
General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars,
wrote, "The genius of Herschel, which
acknowledged no boundaries to its explorations,
planned work on original lines and found no
untrodden paths." Herschel carefully preserved
all the letters he received from his colleagues, and
they show the universal admiration and respect
in which he was held. Gradually all the learned
societies and academies of Europe enrolled
William Herschel as a member. In 1816 Herschel
was knighted by the Prince Regent for his scientific
accomplishments, and in 1820 he was
nominated as the first President of The Royal
Astronomical Society (originally the Astronomical
Society of London).
William Herschel died on August 25,1822, at
Observatory House in Slough and was buried in
the nearby church of Saint Lawrence at Upton.
He had been very weak for a long time, yet his
death was unexpected. Interestingly, his lifetime
of just under 84 years spanned almost precisely
the time it takes the planet he discovered to orbit
the Sun.
Caroline Herschel at once left England and
returned to Hanover, where she spent the
remaining 25 years of her life. She prepared a
catalog of 2,500 nebulae and clusters found by
her brother and herself entitled Λ Catalogue of the
Nebulae which have been observed by Wm. Herschel
in a Series of Sweeps. The catalog was primarily
intended for the use of his son, Sir John Herschel,
who was engaged in the revision and extension
of his father's work, using the old "large" 20-foot
telescope. Sir John never published his father's
catalog, in part because
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he shared the opinion, universal at the time, that
very few of his father's nebulae could be seen
with any but the largest telescopes. Yet today we
know this work as the very foundation upon
which modern astronomy rests.
William Herschel devoted his life to astronomy
and was a tireless observer and theoretician
whose ideas were way ahead of his time. Those
of us lucky enough to be astronomers today will
be forever grateful to him. As Dreyer wrote in
1912:
No earthly monument is wanted to perpetuate the
memory of the man who, solely guided by his genius
and his indefatigable energy, rose to the greatest
eminence in a hitherto almost unexplored field of
science, and widened the horizon of man to an extent
no one had imagined possible before his time.
Larry Mitchell
Houston, Texas
November 29, 2001
Author's Note: In 1987 I started to observe all 2,508 objects in
William and Caroline Herschel's catalog. At first I used a 10-inch
telescope but soon graduated to a 24-inch f/5 telescope I built myself.
After seven years I achieved my goal. What's amazing is that William
Herschel used a smaller telescope (an 18¾-inch f/12.8) than I, and one
with inferior reflectivity. Some of the objects he discovered I found
exceedingly difficult to see, even though I had the advantages of
superior optics and knowing exactly where to look. In a few cases I
had to return on a second night, under different atmospheric
conditions, to see one of his discoveries. Yet Herschel was able to
detect this same object — without prior knowledge of its existence —
the first time it moved through his field of view. After completing this
project, I came away with a feeling of awe, admiration, and reverence
for this man's dedication, abilities, and accomplishments. He truly
was the best. — LM.
Deep-Sky Companions: The Caldwell Objects