  John Ellard Gore FRAS, MRIA (1845-1910) was an Irish amateur astronomer and
prolific author of popular astronomy books. His main observational interest was
variable stars, of which he discovered several, and he served as the first
Director of the BAA Variable Star Section. He was also interested in binary
stars, leading him to calculate orbital elements of many such systems. He
demonstrated that the companion of Sirius, thought by many to be a dark body,
was in fact self luminous. In doing so he provided the first indication of the
immense density of what later became known as white dwarfs.
