[2] After several years at MIT, Very was employed at the Allegheny Observatory at the University of Pittsburgh, where he worked from 1878–1895.
[2] He was then made professor and acting director of the Ladd Observatory at Brown University from 1896–1897.
Samuel Pierpont Langley published in 1890 a widely read paper that included Very's Moon observations, but for unknown reasons omitted his name from the list of contributors.
In 1891, Very published his own paper, "Distribution of the Moon's Heat," which also included measurements taken during a lunar eclipse.
He also addressed the American Astronomical Society at Harvard College Observatory on August 20, 1918, with a paper titled: The Luminiferous Aether 1.