Bath show celebrates sibling astronomers, honours England's first paid female astronomer

In the late 18th century, siblings William and Caroline Herschel made major astronomical discoveries while living in a Georgian townhouse in Bath. That house is now the Herschel Museum of Astronomy, and it has just opened a new exhibition exploring both their scientific work and their domestic life together.

The show was created by Irish artist Grace Weir, who said she was struck by the idea that groundbreaking discoveries, including the identification of the planet Uranus, took place in such a homely setting. She suggested the siblings likely discussed their findings casually, even across the dining table.

One of Weir's pieces, On the Construction of Heavens, draws on William Herschel's 1785 drawing mapping the shape of the Milky Way. Weir had the drawing embroidered onto an antique linen tablecloth, now displayed on the family's original dining table. In the basement workshop where William built his telescopes, Weir has also installed a digital LED counter tracking the changing distance between Earth and Uranus.

A central aim of the exhibition is to give Caroline Herschel proper recognition. Having moved from Germany to join her brother in Bath, she initially worked as his housekeeper before becoming his scientific assistant, helping with calculations and telescope maintenance. She went on to discover eight comets herself and became the first woman in England to be paid for astronomical work. One of Weir's works, An Imperfect Account, pays tribute to Caroline's comet-hunting skill, incorporating a fragment of meteorite alongside a piece of obsidian.

Weir described the siblings as remarkably collaborative, saying they understood and motivated each other. Her artworks are deliberately spread throughout the house so visitors must search for them, an approach she said encourages the kind of close, patient observation she believes is being lost in an age of scrolling.

Amy Frost, senior curator at Bath Preservation Trust, said it was the first time contemporary, site-specific art had been integrated into the museum. The exhibition, titled The As-Yet Unseen, runs from 5 September until 3 January 2027, alongside a separate show on the photography of William's son, John Herschel, also running until January.