Janus: Greenwich Reduction Registers

RGO Archives contains:
<-- See earlier
RGO 10	Papers of Sir Richard Woolley
RGO 104	The Nautical Almanac, Part 1, and the Abridged Nautical Almanac
RGO 11	Papers of Margaret Burbidge
RGO 12	Papers of Alan Hunter
RGO 126	Airy's Transit Circle: observation and reduction ledgers and associated papers
RGO 127	Greenwich Reduction Registers
RGO 128	Groombridge's Catalogue: new reductions
RGO 129	Greenwich Star Catalogues and Ledgers
RGO 13	Papers of Francis Graham Smith
RGO 14	Papers of the Board of Longitude
RGO 15	Papers of the Cape Observatory
See later -->

More information

Please feel free to contact the repository.

Greenwich Reduction Registers

Title	Greenwich Reduction Registers
Reference	GBR/0180/RGO 127
Creator	Royal Observatory, Greenwich
Covering Dates	1835–1930 (sections 1-9 and 13 circa 1835-45 (covering observations made 1750-1830); sections 10-12 1897-1930)
Extent and Medium	89 volumes; paper; The volumes have been exposed to damp conditions and show foxing, mould damage and insect damage. There is considerable surface dirt, the bindings are generally loose or broken and there are numerous small losses particularly from the spines.
Repository	Royal Greenwich Observatory Archives

Content and context

It is thought these volumes are the product of work undertaken by George Bidell Airy to reduce and publish the back log of observations (mostly planetary and lunar) made at Greenwich 1750-1830. For this work he was awarded the gold medal and a testimonial from the Royal Astronomical Society in 1846 and 1848 respectively.

These volumes contain standard forms to aid the reduction of planetary and some stellar observations in preparation for publication. A number of volumes are marked with the names of his assistants at the time such as John Glaisher and Hugh Breen. The material in sections 10-13 concerns stellar observations and, with the possible exception of section 13, appears to have been added at a later date.

Produced or accumulated by the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.

Access and Use

Many of these volumes are large and can be awkward to handle.

Please cite as Royal Greenwich Observatory Archives, Greenwich Reduction Registers, RGO 127

Further information

The online catalogue for Janus was compiled from an existing list in February 2010 by Zoe A. Rees, Department of Manuscripts and University Archives. The scope and content description was compiled with reference to the online Dictionary of National Biography entry for Airy (http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/251) (accessed February 2010).

Index Terms

Planets

Stars

Airy, Sir George Biddell (1801-1892) Knight, astronomer

RGO Archives/RGO 127 contains:

''Calculation of Earth's Tabular Place, by Carlini's Solar Tables, Milan Ephemeris 1833".
10 volumes; paper.

1835–1845

''Computation of North Polar Distances, from Quadrant Observations''.
3 volumes; paper.

1835–1845

''Calculation of North Polar Distances from Circle Observations, by Index Errors: June 1812 to February 1820''. This volume contains planetary observation reduction ''Form No. 8". The entries are labelled ''Progressive number 1-247''.
1 volume; paper; The covers are detached..

1835–1845

''Calculation of North Polar Distances from Circle Observations, by Zenith Points''.
2 volumes; paper.

1835–1845

''Computation of Longitude and Ecliptic Polar Distance, from Right Ascension and North Polar Distance''.
5 volumes; paper.

1835–1845

''Computation of Heliocentric Places'' of Planets.
30 volumes; paper.

1835–1845

''Computation of Planet's Tabular Geocentric Place''.
6 volumes; paper.

1835–1845

''Formulation of Normal Places and Geocentric Errors'' together with ''Formulation of Co-efficients of Normal Heliocentric Errors''.
4 volumes; paper.

1835–1845

''Phenomena of Jupiter's Satellites: 1898 to 1909''. This volume contains planetary observation reduction ''Form No. 292".
1 volume; paper.

1835–1845

10-13

Star Ledgers.
27 volumes; paper.

1835–1930