Thomas William Webb

right|frame|T. W. Webb, from the coverplate in the 1917 edition of Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes

Thomas William Webb (14 December 1807 – 19 May 1885) was a British astronomer. Some sources give his year of birth as 1806. The only son of a clergyman, the Reverend John Webb, he was raised and educated by his father, his mother having died while Thomas was a small child. He went to Oxford where he attended Magdalen Hall. In 1829 was ordained a minister in the Anglican Church. He was married to Henrietta Montague Wyatt (1820–1884) in 1843, daughter of Mr. Arthur Wyatt, Monmouth. Mrs. Webb died on 7 September 1884, and after a year of declining health Thomas died on 19 May 1885. Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes was first published in 1859. Successive editions appeared in 1868, 1873, and 1881. In 1878 Webb was an initial member of the Selenographical Society. After Webb's death in 1885 the 5th (1893) and 6th editions (1917) were produced under the aegis of T H E C Espin (1858–1934) and expanded to two volumes. In 1962, the reprinted edition was published by Dover Publications, Inc., edited and revised by Margaret W. Mayall. The 1962 edition is still readily available and widely used, while earlier editions have become collector's items and are quite rare.

Webb also wrote Optics Without Mathematics (1883) and The Sun: A Familiar Description of His Phenomena (1885).

Asteroid 3041 Webb and lunar crater Webb were named after him.

A telescopic asterism in the constellation Hercules is called Webb's wreath by amateur astronomers.

Thomas William Webb

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