John Bevis: The Discovery of the Crab Nebula and the Danger of Falling Stars
John Bevis (November 10, 1675-November 6, 1771), an amateur astronomer, was a physician who discovered the Crab Nebula in 1731. A nebula is formed as a result of a supernova explosion. A supernova is the death of a short-lived star. To quote the Wikipedia: “The material thrown off from the supernova explosion is ionized by the supernova remnant. One of the best examples of this is the Crab Nebula.” In 1844 it was named the Crab Nebula by Lord Rosse because it had the semblance of a crab.
Bevis had a private observatory in Stock Newington, North London and there he compiled information for his own star atlas, Uranographia Britannica. The project was incomplete upon the bankruptcy of the publisher. Only 52 plates have been engraved and few copies have been printed. Hence, his work is considered very rare.
The Manchester Astronomical Society discovered a star atlas in their library and identified it as that of Bevis’ Uranographia Britannica and its plates were being sold under the guise of Atlas Celeste. According to the society, only about 20 copies are known to exist. There’s one available at the British library. However, the society’s copy is the only one that still has its original 1786 title page intact. Also according to the society, the price of an Atlas Celeste was around 28,000 at an auction in 2001.
If John Bevis discovered the Crab Nebula in modern times due to the invention of the telescope, there have been recorded sightings by other cultures in the distant past. In August 1054, it was seen in China and described as brighter than Venus and as bright as the full moon. The Chinese called it “guest star.” People saw it during the day as well as at night for a year.
American Indians in northern Arizona had seen it and had drawn pictures of it. Pictographs exist in a cave at White Mesa and another on a wall of Navajo Canyon.
According to Kevin Kilburn, a senior member of the Manchester Astronomical Society, Bevis may also have seen the planet Uranus before William Herschel discovered it in 1781. During Bevis’ time, other astronomers who saw it were Charles Messier in 1758 while he was looking for comets, and Lord Rosse in 1774 who christened it the “Crab.” In more recent times, Walter Baade observed it in 1942.
While engrossed with exploding stars, Bevis should have been wary of falling stars as he died at age 76 on November 6, 1771 when he fell off his telescope.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab-Nebula
www.kopernik.org
www.mikeoates.org/mas/bevis/
www.seds.org/messier/xtra/Bios/bevis.html
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