Bishop Observatory

George Bishop’s Observatory stood in Regent’s Park, London, from 1836 until 1861. It was built beside the South Villa by the astronomer George Bishop to house a 7-inch refractor made by Dollond. The telescope was used for systematic searches of the sky. The observatory became a centre for discovering new objects in the solar system. Important work was done there between 1839 and 1844 by William Rutter Dawes, who studied double stars. John Russell Hind began his career at the observatory in 1845 and went on to find ten minor planets between 1847 and 1854. Albert Marth discovered one minor planet there as well. Other astronomers who worked at the observatory included Eduard Vogel, Charles George Talmage, and Norman Robert Pogson. The observatory closed after George Bishop’s death in 1861. Its dome and instruments were moved to Twickenham, where a new observatory operated until 1877. The original site in Regent’s Park is now covered by Regent’s College. The minor planets once tracked from London still carry the names of their discoverers.