Mervyn Vincent Jones (M. V. Jones) – amateur astronomer of Maryborough, Queensland

2024 December 9

Peter Anderson

Mervyn Vincent Jones (1927 October 21 – 2016 August 6), known as M. V. or Merv Jones, was an Australian amateur astronomer who was very active from the early 1960s to the mid-1970s. He lived in Maryborough, a Queensland coastal city of some 28,000 persons, situated 250 km north of the state capital, Brisbane. He contributed to the Lunar Section of the BAA in the early 1960s via the Astronomical Society of Queensland, and from 1961 carried out visual variable-star observations that were reported to the Variable Star Section of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand. For a decade from the mid-1960s, he reported comet observations to the Association of Lunar & Planetary Observers, discovering a comet himself on 1967 Jul 1 that was to be later designated C/1967 M1 (Mitchell–Jones–Gerber). At this time, he also greatly increased his variable star output, with some observations (1971–1975) forwarded to the Variable Star Section of the BAA, of which he had become a member in 1969. For reasons discussed in this paper, his reported variable star observations suddenly ceased in 1975 Apr, and thereafter very few observations of any type are recorded.

Life & employment

(From information supplied by his sister Min Vary)

Merv was born in Maryborough in 1927, the oldest of five children: three boys and two girls. He lived for much of his life in the family home at 20 Roseneath Street, Maryborough, and attended the Albert State School before working in the Postmaster-General’s Department during World War II as a telegram boy, riding his bicycle to deliver telegrams. It was later recalled that if he was late coming home, the family dog would go out looking for him and bring him back.

He then enlisted in the army for two seven-year engagements, but being of a shy and retiring nature, he did not rise in rank. He later worked for Hyne & Son Pty Ltd, timber millers and forestry owners. He drove a cart delivering and relocating timber around their yard, then situated at the end of Walker Street, where the Botanical Gardens (Queen’s Park) are now located. Eventually he retired to look after his elderly parents in the family home until they both passed away, his father in 1987 aged 82 and his mother in 1992 aged 86.

After his parents died, he continued to live at the family home, but he was becoming frail – he had cancer twice. His sister Min, younger by nine years, advised him that she would soon be unable to drive down from her home at Point Vernon and support him, so she encouraged him to sell the house.

Later (likely in the early 2000s), he sold the house and moved to a one-room cabin in the Torbay retirement facility. This offered largely independent living, and he thrived there.

Apart from astronomy, his other interests were gardening (even maintaining other people’s yards), languages (specifically, translating old texts), painting (in which he was competent), and cartooning (in which he was outstanding). Perhaps art runs in the family – his sister Min is also a painter and has displayed and worked in galleries.

Astronomy

After becoming active in astronomy, Merv first came to attention as a lunar observer and cartographer, but he had already commenced visual variable star observing. By 1964, his focus had changed away from lunar work and the number of variable star observations greatly increased. He also began observing comets, discovering one on 1967 Jul 1. He contributed comet observations for a decade, with the number of observations diminishing in frequency and eventually ceasing in 1974 January. In the meantime, he had become a respected visual observer of variable stars.

Joining the Astronomical Society of Queensland (ASQ), from 1961 to 1964 he was a member of its Lunar Observing Section and contributed drawings of lunar features and observations principally for ‘Project Moonhole’ of the BAA Lunar Section. The purpose of Moonhole was to ascertain the profiles of the interior slopes of craters with diameters in the range of 10 to 25 km. There was much interest in the possibility of conical craters. This project involved assessing the changing percentage of shadow across the diameter of the crater on a day-by-day basis, as the elevation of the Sun varied over the lunar surface. Forty-eight craters were selected for the ongoing programme.¹ Merv contributed hundreds of estimates over several years.

During this period, the author of this paper, as Director of the Lunar Section of the ASQ, worked quite closely with Merv on this programme as he was one of the key observers. Due to other commitments, the author resigned as Director from 1963 Dec 31 and the position was taken by Doug McLearie.²

It appears that from 1964, Merv’s astronomical interests changed, and lunar studies receded into the background; that year, he resigned from the ASQ (see later). Certainly, the author has not found any record of further observations forwarded to that society.

Merv was a fine artist and his lunar drawings that supported the programme were of professional standard (see Figure 5). Another fine example of his art is shown in Figure 6, which depicts a young amateur astronomer with a very ramshackle homemade telescope. Merv drew this in late 1961, attaching a small 1962 calendar to the heavy paper drawing. Since the author was then a young fellow with a home-built telescope of similar configuration (see Figure 7), he wonders whether the drawing might not have been a subtle bit of fun on Merv’s part.

Also from this period, the author has a globe of the planet Mars (Figure 8), made by Merv. It is small, only 75 mm in diameter, but is very fine work.

Variable star observations

Even before the lunar observations already detailed, Merv had embarked upon visual observation of variable stars. He became a member of the Variable Star Section of the ASQ in 1961 and remained so until his resignation from that organisation. The Director of this Section, Greg Fielding, effectively led the group of ASQ members who resided in the Bundaberg area some 80 kilometres to the north of Maryborough. Members of the ASQ Variable Star Section including Merv reported their observations directly to the Variable Star Section of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand (RASNZ) and this would continue thereafter. These RASNZ records are now maintained by the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) but Merv did not provide any observations directly to the AAVSO.

Drawing from these variable star reports, Merv originally observed with a 2.5-inch refracting telescope between April and June of 1961. Then, from 1961 July, he used a 4-inch refracting telescope: quite a respectable instrument for the time. In mid-1964, as later detailed, he completed an 8-inch ƒ/5 reflecting telescope which was mounted in a roll-away shed. Its place was taken by a 10-inch reflector in the late 1960s or very early 1970s. With their greater light-grasp, these reflecting telescopes enabled Merv to access fainter stars. According to RASNZ variable-star observer colleague Mati Morel, he was known to follow many faint eruptive variables, and the upgrade to the 10-inch would certainly have assisted.

Commencing on 1961 Apr 14, with a modest 102 events recorded in that year, the observations ramped up, particularly after the completion of the 8-inch and then the 10-inch, to reach an annual average of several thousand by the early 1970s. Over 200 stars were being regularly observed. In this contribution he rivalled the Section’s other prolific observer, Albert Jones (1920–2013). So, at this time, each of the two trans-Tasman nations, Australia and New Zealand, had a leading variable star observer named Jones: Merv Jones in Australia and Albert Jones in New Zealand. As astronomical historian Professor Wayne Orchiston has observed, this lends credence to the oft-quoted phrase ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’.

Then, on 1975 Apr 18, Merv’s reported variable star observations suddenly ceased. Only a further 10 observations were to be added over the following period, for a total of 26,868; the last was on 1993 Oct 29. Table 1 gives a yearly tally of his observations.

The BAA, of which he had been elected a member on 1969 Nov 26, also records 85 of his observations, 68 of which were of the dwarf nova U Gem, supplied to the Variable Star Section database between the years 1971 and 1975.

Whilst active, Merv had used his artistic skills as well. Mati Morel advised that Merv produced a number of nice variable star finder charts / sketches that were useful.

By the early 1970s, his reputation as a visual observer of variable stars was widely recognised, so that when writing about a visit to Australia and New Zealand in 1974 Nov, M. D. Overbeek, Director of the Variable Star Section of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa, states: ‘… I had planned to start the tour by meeting three well-known VS observers north of Sydney: Taylor of Armidale, Matchett of Brisbane and Merv Jones of Maryborough. Jones is Australia’s answer to the giants of other countries such as the Peltier/Hurless team and our own De Kock.’

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