Historedia
Person

Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel

Events
2
Episodes
4
Years
1832–1844

Every event in Historedia whose sources name Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel, with the role they cite and all of that event’s episodes. This is not a biography, and mentions are grouped by name, so two people with the same name can share this page.

Events and episodes

  1. Thomas Henderson publishes first parallax measurement of Alpha Centauri

    1832–1839

    Role: Contemporaneous Astronomer

    1. 1832-1833 · Royal Observatory, Cape of Good HopeObservation Period

      Henderson conducted exacting positional observations of Alpha Centauri AB between April 1832 and May 1833 to determine its parallax.

    2. 1839 · Royal Observatory, Cape of Good HopePublication

      Henderson published his parallax results in 1839, following Bessel's 1838 publication on 61 Cygni.

  2. Bessel deduces dark companions of Sirius and Procyon

    1844

    Role: Astronomer

    1. 1844 · Königsberg ObservatoryPostulation of Procyon's Companion

      Bessel postulated the existence of a dark companion for Procyon in 1844, based on similar proper motion irregularities.

    2. 10 August 1844 · Königsberg ObservatoryDeduction of Sirius's Companion

      Bessel deduced an unseen companion for Sirius from proper motion changes, announced in a letter dated 10 August 1844.

Sources

  1. Alpha Centauri Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-03
  2. Thomas Henderson (astronomer) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-29
  3. Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-29