Robert Thorburn Ayton Innes, a Scottish-South African astronomer, born on 10 November, 1861 (died 13 March, 1933). He is best known for discovering Proxima Centauri in 1915, and numerous binary stars. Despite having had no formal training in astronomy, he was invited to the Cape Observatory by the astronomer royal Sir David Gill (1843 - 1914, Scottish) in 1894 and appointed in 1896. He was also the first astronomer to have seen the Great January Comet of 1910, on 12 January. He was the founding director of a meteorological station in Johannesburg, which he converted to an astronomical observatory and renamed to Union Observatory. He was the first Union Astronomer. The lunar crater Innes and the asteroid 1658 Innes are named in his honour. Reference: Hockey, Thomas (2009). The Biographical Encyclopaedia of Astronomers. Springer Publishing. Retrieved 31 August, 2012
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 10:30:00 +0000
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