Abstract
MANY of the recent advances in our knowledge of the constitution of the stars are traceable to Prof. Pickering's revival of Fraunhofer's mode of investigating stellar spectra. The endowment of this research by Mrs. Draper as a memorial to her husband, Dr. Henry Draper, has enabled Prof. Pickering to apply this method in two principal directions. First, a series of photographs was taken on a small scale to indicate the chief characteristics of the spectra of a very great number of stars; second, in the case of the brighter stars, another series was taken with greater dispersion with the view of facilitating an inquiry into the more minute features of each type of spectrum. The results of the first investigation are comprised in the well-known “Draper Catalogue,” giving particulars of the spectra of over 10,000 stars (NATURE, vol. xlv. p. 427), and the research has now been advanced another stage by the publication of the results obtained along the second line of inquiry.
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FOWLER, A. A New Classification of Stellar Spectra. Nature 56, 206–208 (1897). https://doi.org/10.1038/056206b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/056206b0