Auguste Voigt

Auguste Voigt (1895)

Auguste Voigt (born January 18, 1828 in Gevrey-Chambertin , † March 12, 1909 in Géanges ) was a French teacher and astronomer .

Life

After working as a teacher for a few years, his interest in astronomy caught the attention of Urbain Le Verrier , director of the Paris Observatory . He hired Voigt as an assistant in October 1863 and sent him to the old Observatoire de Marseille to take over from Charles Simon as director.

Under Voigt line was established in November 1864 in Marseille , the new 80-cm Foucault - Reflector commissioned.

In 1865 there was a disagreement with Le Verrier, Voigt was dismissed and replaced by Édouard Stephan .

Discoveries

There is evidence of his observations of ten galaxies - then called "nebulae" - in the period from March to August 1865, of which eight today with an NGC or IC number can clearly be attributed to Voigt as the discoverer:

The galaxies NGC 5619 and NGC 6921 , which he also described , had already been discovered by other astronomers.

literature

Voigt, A .: 1ere list des dix nebuleuses nouvelles , in: Tobin, W .: Foucault's invention of the silvered-glass reflecting telescope and the history of his 80-cm reflector at the observatoire de Marseille, Vistas in Astronomy 30 (1987) , 153-184, doi : 10.1016 / 0083-6656 (87) 90015-8

Web links

Auguste Voigt. Wolfgang Steinicke, accessed on July 28, 2016 (English).
Wolfgang Steinicke: Observing and Cataloging Nebulae and Star Clusters . Cambridge University Press, 2010, pp. 270 ff . ( online on GoogleBooks [accessed July 28, 2016]).
Two portraits and a short biography on C. Seligman's website, accessed August 1, 2016

Remarks

↑ Dreyer knew nothing of these discoveries when the NGC catalog was being drawn up . Voigt's list was only found and published by Tobin in 1987.

personal data
SURNAME	Voigt, Auguste
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH	January 18, 1828
PLACE OF BIRTH	Gevrey-Chambertin
DATE OF DEATH	March 12, 1909
Place of death	Géanges

[1] Dreyer knew nothing of these discoveries when the NGC catalog was being drawn up . Voigt's list was only found and published by Tobin in 1987.