Today (November 23, 1937) is the Memorial Day of Thomas James Henderson, the first person to discover the distance of Alpha Centauri.
Thomas James Alan Henderson was born on December 28, 1798, in Dundee. Thomas Henderson was educated at Dundee High School. He then went on to become a lawyer and rose through the ranks of an assistant. Although his focus has always been on astronomy and mathematics. After discovering a new method of viewing the Earth's longitude using the lunar interval, he came to the attention of Thomas Young, then the state naval department's sea level map observer. Young has greatly helped young Henderson to enter the field of astronomy. Young had earlier submitted a letter of recommendation to the royal upper house to give Henderson his place after his death. Although he was not considered for the post, he went to South Africa, the Confidence Point, and was promoted there because he had enough influence to be recommended for the Observatory Government Observatory.
He went to the optimistic tip and
took substantial galactic measurements from April 1832 to 1833. This includes
measurements of what he still admires. He then came to the conclusion that this
was the closest galaxy to Earth, as it had been pointed out to him that the
motion of the nucleus of the glorious southern galaxy Alpha Centauri was large.
As of 1830, he was the first person to easily detect the distance of a galaxy
using a parallax, as it was very close. After retiring from ill health and
returning to the United Kingdom, he quietly examined his measurements and came
to the conclusion that Alpha Centauri was a short distance of 3.25 light-years
away. Since this value is as small as 25.6%, it is relatively accurate.
Henderson was not interested in publishing the
results of his study immediately. He was preceded in death by Friedrich Willem
Bezel (despite earlier attempts to disprove the galactic parallax). Bezel
published his conclusion in 1838 that the parabolic appearance error for the
binary galaxy "61 Signi" was 10.3 light-years (9.6% of the smallest
value). Henderson published his results
in 1839. Although he was pushed to second place due to his lack of confidence.
He was first elected a member of the Scottish Astronomical Society in 1834, for
being known for his optimistic tip measurement. He was then given the vacant
post of Astronomical Chief at the University of Edinburgh on the advice of the
Prime Minister of Melbourne. From 1834 until his death he worked at the City
Observatory in Edinburgh (then known as the Calton Hill Observatory). In 1840
he was elected a Fellow of the Government of London.
Henderson became a member of
several prestigious organizations, including the State Astronomical Society
(1832) and the Edinburgh State Astronomical Society (1834). Thomas James Henderson,
the first to discover the distance of Alpha Centauri, passed away on November
23, 1844, in Edinburgh at the age of 45. Grafriers Kirkard was buried in the
Adee Family Cemetery. He was also the first Scottish government astronomer.
Source By: Wikipedia
Information: Ramesh, Assistant
Professor of Physics, Nehru Memorial College, Puthanampatti, Trichy.
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