An updated version for this entry is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_9034
Born London, England, 26 May 1826
Died Churt, Surrey, England, 27 November 1875
In addition to his unique contributions to knowledge about the axis and rotation of the Sun, Richard Carrington produced a valuable catalog of the positions of circumpolar stars. The son of a wealthy Brentford, Middlesex, brewer, Carrington was, along with Johannes Hevel and William Lassell, one of several notable amateur astronomers whose astronomical careers were founded on brewing fortunes. Educated at Cambridge University, he served for 3 years as an assistant to Reverend Temple Chevalier at Durham University Observatory.
However, his father's money made him “an unfettered man,” as he put it, and in 1853 Carrington set up a superior observatory of his own, at Redhill, Surrey, south of London. He commissioned a transit circle with a 5‐in. object glass and a 4½‐in. equatorial refractor from the instrument...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Selected References
Anon. (1876). “Richard Christopher Carrington.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 36: 137–142.
Carrington, Richard Christopher (1857). A Catalogue of 3,735 Circumpolar Stars Observed at Redhill, In the Years 1854, 1855, and 1856 … for 1855.0. London: printed by George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode, Printers to the Queen's most excellent Majesty, and sold by Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans.
——— (1858). “On the Distribution of the Solar Spots in Latitude since the Beginning of the Year 1854; with a Map.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 19: 1–3.
——— (1859). “On Certain Phenomena in the Motions of Solar Spots.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 19: 81–84.
——— (1859). “Description of a Singular Appearance seen in the Sun on September 1, 1859.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 20: 13–15.
——— (1863). “Observations of the Spots on the Sun, from November 9, 1853 to March 24, 1861, made at Redhill.” London: privately published from funds provided by the Royal Society.
Chapman, Allan (1998). The Victorian Amateur Astronomer: Independent Astronomical Research in Britain, 1820–1920. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons.
Keer, Norman C. (1996). The Life and Times of Richard Christopher Carrington B.A., F.R.S., F.R.A.S. (1826–1875). Heathfield, East Sussex: privately printed.
Teague, E. T. H. (1996). “Carrington's Method of Determining Sunspot Positions.” Journal of the British Astronomical Association 106: 82–86.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Sheehan, W. (2007). Carrington, Richard Christopher. In: Hockey, T., et al. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_241
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_241
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-31022-0
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-30400-7
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics