William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse

Obituary: MNRAS 29, 123 (1869); Proc. Roy. Soc. 16, XXXVI (1867)

Wiliam Parsons (3rd Earl of Rosse = Lord Rosse) found 3 NGC-objects with the 72" reflector at Birr Castle; 2 were new. However, Lord Rosse is credited by Dreyer with 225 objects, but they were mainly found by the assistants. The objects were published in: Parsons, W., On the Construction of Specula of Six-feet Aperture; and a selection from the Observations of nebulae made with them, Phil. Trans. 151, 681-745 (1861). See also: Parsons L., Observations of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars Made With the Six-foot and Three-foot Reflectors at Birr Castle From the Year 1848 up to the Year 1878, Scientific Transactions of the Royal Dublin Society Vol. II, 1878. The 36" reflector was used for observations of nebulae too.

D N NI Y M D Ap I T Discoverer Con Type S
1 N 1130 1855 12 8 72,0 Rl v   PER C 1
1 N 1131 1855 12 8 72,0 Rl v   PER E0 1
  N 5636 1848 4 25 72,0 Rl v Herschel W. 30.4.1786 VIR SB0-a 1

Birr Castle

 

36" Reflector

72" Reflector