2012/03/29 by Jeremy Shears, Shears, Jeremy
Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph) #Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR) #astro-ph.SR #physics.hist-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1203.6467
43 pages, 23 figures. Accepted for publication in the Journal of the British Astronomical Association
arxiv created 2012/03/29 · arxiv updated 2012/03/30
John Ellard Gore FRAS, MRIA (1845-1910) was an Irish amateur astronomer and prolific author of popular astronomy books. His main observational interest was variable stars, of which he discovered several, and he served as the first Director of the BAA Variable Star Section. He was also interested in binary stars, leading him to calculate orbital elements of many such systems. He demonstrated that the companion of Sirius, thought by many to be a dark body, was in fact self luminous. In doing so he provided the first indication of the immense density of what later became known as white dwarfs.