Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve

Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve (Russian: Vasily Yakovlevich Struve) (April 15, 1793 – November 23, 1864 (Julian calendar: November 11)) was a Baltic-German astronomer from a famous dynasty of astronomers.

Works

Struve's name is best known for his observations of double stars, which he carried on for many years. Although double stars had been studied earlier by William Herschel and John Herschel and Sir James South, Struve outdid any previous efforts. He discovered a very large number of double stars and in 1827 published his double star catalogue Catalogus novus stellarum duplicium.

Related Topics:
Double star - William Herschel - John Herschel - Sir James South - 1827

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Since most double stars are true binary stars rather than mere optical doubles (as William Herschel had been the first to discover), they orbit around one another's barycenter and slowly change position over the years. Thus Struve made micrometric measurements of 2714 double stars from 1824 to 1837 and published these in his work Stellarum duplicium et multiplicium mensurae micrometricae.

Related Topics:
Double star - Binary star - Optical double - Barycenter

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Struve carefully measured the "constant of aberration" in 1843. He was also the first to measure the parallax of Vega, although Friedrich Bessel had been the first to measure the parallax of a star (61 Cygni).

Related Topics:
Aberration - 1843 - Parallax - Vega - Friedrich Bessel - 61 Cygni

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He was also interested in geodetic surveying, and in 1831 published Beschreibung der Breitengradmessung in den Ostseeprovinzen Russlands. He initiated the Struve Geodetic Arc, which was a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea, through ten countries and over 2,820km. The UNESCO has the chain on its List of World Heritage Sites in Europe.

Related Topics:
Geodetic - 1831 - Struve Geodetic Arc - Hammerfest - Norway - Black Sea - List of World Heritage Sites in Europe

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