COMMON; Andrew A.; 1841-1903; GBR

Owner of a mecanical business, he constructed numerous astronomical instruments according to his passion for astronomy: first a 5-inch refractor, and then telescopes of 18-inch in 1877, 36-inch in 1879 (future Crossley reflector at Lick) and finally 60-inch (F/5.7) in the 1880s. Common was a pioneer in the new field of photography between 1880 en 1884, at the same period as DRAPER.They kind of competed together to obtain the best results on the Moon, planets and afterwards on deep sky objects (M42, comet 1881b, ...). He discovered some "nebulae" to included in the NGC ("List of about 32 New Nebulae Found with a 3-foot Reflector", Copernicus).