Arthur Stanley Williams (1861 in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

– 21 November 1938) was an English

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and amateur

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

. He dedicated himself to the

telescopic A telescope is an instrument designed for the observation of remote objects. Telescope(s) also may refer to: Music * The Telescopes, a British psychedelic band ** The Telescopes (album) * ''Telescope'' (album), by Circle, 2007 * ''The Telescope' ...

observation of the

planet A planet is a large, Hydrostatic equilibrium, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets b ...

s. He also was enthusiastic about

yachting Yachting is recreational boating activities using medium/large-sized boats or small ships collectively called yachts. Yachting is distinguished from other forms of boating mainly by the priority focus on comfort and luxury, the dependence on ma ...

, winning the

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in 1920.

Planetary works

Using a 6½ inch reflector on an

equatorial mount An equatorial mount is a mount for instruments that compensates for Earth's rotation by having one rotational axis, called ''polar axis'', parallel to the Earth's axis of rotation. This type of mount is used for astronomical telescope mount, tel ...

for most of his work, he published an influential paper in 1896: "On the Drift of Surface Material of Jupiter in Different Latitudes." With this work he greatly strengthened the efforts to systematically observe Jupiter. He also invented the naming of belts and zones in 1898. He championed the method of determining the

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east- west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lett ...

of surface features using their central meridian transit. In 1899 he published his most influential paper: "Periodic Variations in the Colours of the two Equatorial Belts of Jupiter." He also observed spots on

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

, and the "linear features" on

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

, called "canals". He agreed early on with E. M. Antoniadi that these were largely illusory.

Awards

He was made a fellow of the

Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...

in 1884, and was awarded the

Jackson-Gwilt Medal The Jackson-Gwilt Medal is an award that has been issued by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) since 1897. The original criteria were for the invention, improvement, or development of astronomical instrumentation or techniques; for achievement ...

in 1923. The crater Williams on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

and a

crater A crater is a landform consisting of a hole or depression (geology), depression on a planetary surface, usually caused either by an object hitting the surface, or by geological activity on the planet. A crater has classically been described ...

on Mars are named in his honor.

References

External links

Obituaries

MNRAS 99 (1939) 313
19th-century English astronomers 1861 births 1938 deaths 20th-century English astronomers {{UK-astronomer-stub