The glittering stars of the night sky have always been a source of inspiration. The skies hundred years ago were richer with stars and the nights quieter. Thus, a sudden  brightening of a star was immediately recognisable to every one.

The inmates in the military camps or surveyors’ camps were no exception. The cool breeze of the night brought them out to the open and the guest star in the southern sky beckoned them. That bright star was referred to as Eta Argus. Today we know it as the famous Eta Carina associated with a grand nebula. This star believed to be the most massive, underwent a violent eruption way back in 1868.

A young man sat looking at the skies through a telescope in Bangalore. This keen sky gazer who documented the glory of Eta Carina was the grand son of the famous astronomer William Herschel. He shared his first name with his father (and hence many historians mistook him for the father himself, another celebrity, Sir John Frederick William Herschel, usually referred to as Sir J F W Herschel).

Almost all the members of the Herschel family have contributed to astronomy. The most well known is William Herschel, discoverer of the planet Uranus. His sister Caroline is well known for observing and cataloguing interesting objects in the star studded sky, apart from the discovery of comets. John Herschel was the son of William and grew up to be a famous astronomer. He observed the southern skies from South Africa and prepared two mammoth volumes of the nebulae in this half of the sky.

A search for L Herschel found in one of the references on Eta Carina (referred to as Eta Argus those days) led me to this very interesting context. My surprise upon the discovery that L is not the first or second name of this member of the family is quite understandable. He was the son of Sir J F W Herschel, also called John. (I fail to understand the acute shortage of first names in this context!) The pursuit of his whereabouts showed that he was an ardent star-gazer.

Born in South Africa where Sir John Herschel was engaged in observations of the southern celestial hemisphere, the younger John grew up with telescopes and participated in observations.  

John joined the Great Trigonometric Survey of India, and thus got the L (Lieutenant) attached to his name. This was one of the prestigious missions taken up by the British. It began in 1800 with the first set of results coming from Mysore and Bangalore, by Lieut.Warren. (He is also the first to initiate the tradition of erecting “milestones”; the first ones were put in Srirangapattana). The project continued for almost 65 years with contributions from stalwarts like George Everest and William Lambton.

John was one of the first to observe the sudden brightening of Eta Carina. From his reports it is obvious that it reached naked eye visibility.

John participated in the total solar eclipse expedition of 1868. It is in this eclipse that the element helium was discovered in Guntur. He was in one of the three British teams that were actively involved in making historic records of the eclipse.

Continuing the tradition of astronomical observations the younger John did extensive observations of southern star clusters, nebulae, apart from the solar prominences. Initially he managed with a small telescope.

Subsequently he unpacked a new telescope along with other survey instruments during November 1869 in “Bangalore South End Base”. It also included a transit instrument, which was later used to determine the longitudes between Madras and Bangalore.

He undertook the task of measuring the longitudes and latitudes of most of the towns from Madras to Bangalore in South India. Simultaneously he kept a watch on the beautiful skies as well. He moved to other parts of India and was in charge of the “Bombay Party” till November 1869, after which Lieut. Rogers took over charge from him. He measured the longitude, latitude and magnetic elements of Minicoy, Alleppey, Mangalore, Madras and Coconada (Kakinada?).

He meticulously documented the records of solar prominences. During one such occasion he wrote about “dark shadows crossing the sun……”. He did not mean the sunspots or an event like the transit of Mercury or Venus. It concerns the migration of locusts; their huge number disturbed his observations in 1870. This phenomenon attracted world-wide attention and the unusual increase of pests in that year has been cited globally – the citations read "An unusual phenomenon was noticed by Lieut. Herschel, Oct. 17 and 18, 1870, while observing the Sun at Bangalore, India."

After the death of Sir John Herschel in 1871, the younger John returned to England as is evident from the correspondence with Sir Talbot. Ill health and the responsibility of compiling the mammoth work of his father grand father and (grand) aunt seem to have diverted his attention from regular observations. He edited two memoirs of William Herschel on the brightness of stars.

His interests continued in developing telescope accessories. He also wrote papers on colour blindness, on special solar eye-pieces, rotating slotted disc etc for observing the sun without damaging the eye-sight.

My decision to pen these ideas rose from the fact that these observations of Eta Argus (Carina) with a telescope and naked eye constitute the first ever documented astronomical observations from Bangalore.  John Herschel, therefore, was the first to initiate astronomical observations from Bangalore, which now hosts prestigious institutions actively engaged in astronomy and astrophysics.

The biographers of Herschels talk very little about the contributions of the younger Herschel.

John Herschel died of prolonged illness on  May 31, 1921 and was buried in Upton Church. 

Since John spent so much of his time in Bangalore, I wondered where he and his family might have lived. While one record of observations puts it as No. 2 Residency Road, others put it as “South End Base” which was about 2 km south of the (Cantonment) Railway Station. There is yet another reference to Hotel Cathcart, High Grounds. Did he observe the sky sitting on the plains of today’s Planetarium? If so, the astronomical tradition of the “High Grounds” or the Planetarium premises dates back to November 18, 1868, exactly 121 years before the inauguration of the Planetarium!