A Cycle of Celestial Objects, for the Use of Naval, Military, and Private Astronomers

As a naval admiral, William Henry Smyth (1788-1865) made use of astronomy for navigation, but his acquaintance with the renowned Italian astronomer Piazzi kindled a lifelong interest in the science and inspired the admiral to establish his own observatory where he spent the 1830s studying deep sky objects including double stars and nebulae. His work resulted in this two-volume book, published in 1844, which earned Smyth the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society and its presidency. Volume 1 introduces Smyth's project, giving a brief history of astronomy, descriptions of the position, formation and celestial movement of the planets of the solar system and the stars that make up the sidereal heavens, and the experimental records of the observatory. Smyth's own observations are contained in Volume 2, the so-called 'Bedford Catalogue', which marked a significant advance on earlier works and remained a standard reference for many years.