John Flamsteed Report, Finalized.

Beginnings

            Flamsteed was born in Denby, England, on August 19, 1646. He was brought up as the son of a wealthy merchant, as his mother died early on in his childhood. Flamsteed attended Derby free school in his childhood, but the boy’s chronic rheumatic condition led to his father’s decision to not send him to university. From 1662-1669, Flamsteed studied mathematics and astronomy independently, despite his father’s disapproval. In August of 1665, Flamsteed produced his first astronomical monograph, Mathematical Essays, addressing design, use, and construction of a quadrant (an instrument of astronomers to measure altitudes of stars). He began his own systematic observations in 1671.  In March 1675, John Flamsteed was appointed “The King’s Astronomical Observator”, or the first English Astronomer Royal, accumulating £100 a year in foundational funds. In June of the same year, Flamsteed was warranted the founding of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, and laid down the foundations in August. Flamsteed was admitted a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1676 and moved into the Observatory in Burstow, Surry in 1677.

Discoveries

            Flamsteed calculated the solar eclipses of 1666 and 1668 with great accuracy. He recorded the first sighting of Uranus, but he mistook the planet as a star, recording it under the name “34 Tauri”, in December 1690. In August of 1680, John Flamsteed recorded 3 Cassiopeiae, which modern astronomical historians believe to be the most recent supernova in the galaxy’s history. Astronomers now commonly call his finding Cassiopeia A. He proposed that the two great comets seen in November and December of 1680 were not separate bodies, but rather a single comet traveling towards, and then away, from the Sun. Observations of 16 nebulous patches and stars – including NGC 2244, Lagoon Nebula M8, and M41 – were made circa 1680. As the Astronomer Royal, he observed, improved previous models, & made records for his star catalogue, Historia Coelestis Britannica, and a star atlas, Atlas Coelestis. His entries more than tripled those of Tycho Brahe’s star atlas.

Legacy

            John Flamsteed, in honor of being the first Astronomer Royal, as well as his foundations and observations made in the Royal Observatory Greenwich, had the Flamsteed Astronomy Society named after him. A crater on the Moon, as well as asteroid 4987, was given the name Flamsteed. A number of schools and colleges in Derbyshire, his hometown and origin, are also named after him. Flamsteed’s finalized work, Stellarum Inerrantium Catalogus Britannicus, was only published posthumously in 1725. Flamsteed was also well known for butting heads with Isaac Newton and Edmond Halley. Newton originally disagreed with Flamsteed’s “one comet” theory in 1680, but later agreed with him after he and Halley gained unauthorized access to Flamsteed’s work and observations, theorizing comets moved in large, closed elliptical orbitals. Halley also obtained the cost for publication of Flamsteed’s work, Historia Coelestis Britannica from the Prince of Denmark in 1704, and published Flamsteed’s work on his own in 1712, despite Flamsteed’s refusal. Ironically, Flamsteed’s greatest enemy, Edmond Halley, succeeded him as the second Astronomer Royal.