Percy B. Molesworth
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'''Percy Braybrooke Molesworth''' ([[April 2]],[[1867]], [[Colombo]] – [[December 25]],[[1908]]) was a Major in the corps of [[Royal Engineers]] and amateur [[astronomer]]. He was the youngest son of Sir [[Guildford Molesworth]].
He was educated at [[Winchester College]]. He obtained his commission in the Corps of [[Royal Engineers]] in [[1886]] and was stationed at Fort Camden until [[1891]]. He then was ordered to [[Hong Kong]] and three years later moved to [[Trincomalee]] on Ceylon (now called [[Sri Lanka]]). He retired in [[1906]] intending to pursue astronomy full-time at his estate at Trincomalee. But he died of [[dysentery]] before he could realize his plans.
He was a founder member of the [[British Astronomical Association]] in 1890 and was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Astronomical Society]] in 1898.
He was a talented observer creating first-class drawings of [[Mars (planet)|Mars]] and [[Jupiter (planet)|Jupiter]] in the years [[1903]] to [[1905]]. He is credited with discovering a "great disturbance" in the southern bands of Jupiter on [[February 28]],[[1901]]. Known as the "[[South Tropical Disturbance]]" it lasted for close to forty years.
A [[Impact crater|crater]] on Mars was named in his honour.
==External links==
===Obituaries===
*[http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/MNRAS/0069//0000248.000.html '''MNRAS''' (69) 248]
*[http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-journal_query?volume=32&plate_select=NO&page=108&plate=&cover=&journal=Obs..&db_key=ALL '''Obs''' (32) 108]
===Other publications===
*[http://adsbit.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-journal_query?volume=106&plate_select=NO&page=169&plate=&cover=&journal=JBAA.&db_key=ALL Description of the discovery of the southern disturbance]
*[http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/onlinebks/mars/chap08.htm Molseworth's description of his Mars observations]
== References ==
* Richard Baum: "Insights into Enthusiasm: The 1897-1898 Venus notebooks of P. B. Molesworth", ''Journal of the British Astronomical Association'' vol. 117, p.9-19, 2007.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Molesworth, Percy B}}
[[Category:1867 births]]
[[Category:1908 deaths]]
[[Category:British astronomers]]
[[Category:Royal Engineers officers]]
[[Category:Deaths from dysentery]]
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