Rare celestial atlas donated to Perth Observatory

8/8/01
One of the world's rarest celestial atlases has been donated to the Perth Observatory.
Parliamentary Secretary Fran Logan MLA, on behalf of Environment and Heritage Minister Dr Judy Edwards, today announced that the rare 1729 book Atlas Coelestis or Map of the Heavens by the first Astronomer Royal of England had been given to the Perth Observatory.
The book was donated by Mrs Ethelwin Moffatt of Adelaide - an ancestor of the first Astronomer Royal of England, Reverend John Flamsteed.

"We are honoured to receive this valuable book as it is not only extremely rare, but one of the truly great celestial atlases,"
Mr Logan said.
"It was the first type to use star observations acquired by a telescope, which increased accuracy ten-fold.
"Reverend Flamsteed was the first to use a telescope to acquire accurate star positions - a practice that now is very common."
Mr Logan said the book would be the centre of a new display and exhibition at the Perth Observatory in Bickley.
"In recognition of this generous donation by Mrs Moffatt, the Perth Observatory had named two asteroids it had discovered Moffatt and Flamsteed," he said.
"This will not only commemorate the donation but also mortalise it in the world of astronomy."
Mr Logan said Perth Observatory, Australia's sole State astronomy observatory, had a long association with star position work, as begun by Reverend Flamsteed.
Its first major research project in the 1900s was the Astrographic Catalogue. This project involved the photographic mapping of the night sky by 18 participating observatories. Perth Observatory contributed about 250,000 of the 4,000,000 star positions eventually catalogued.
Following this it created the Perth 70 star catalogue, which remains the most accurate ground-based catalogue of southern stars.
Media contact:
Dr James Biggs, Perth Observatory 9293 8255