Thomas Henderson (astronomer)

Thomas Henderson
Thomas Henderson, c.1820s Scottish Astronomer Royal
Born	(1798-12-28)28 December 1798 Dundee, Scotland
Died	23 November 1844(1844-11-23) (aged 45) Edinburgh
Nationality	Scottish
Known for	distance to Alpha Centauri
Scientific career
Fields	astronomy
Institutions	City Observatory, Edinburgh

Thomas Henderson FRSE FRS FRAS (28 December 1798 – 23 November 1844) was a Scottish astronomer and mathematician noted for being the first person to measure the distance to Alpha Centauri, the major component of the nearest stellar system to Earth, the first to determine the parallax of a fixed star, and for being the first Astronomer Royal for Scotland.