Abstract
DURING a conference on Spectroscopy arranged by the University of Chicago on June 22-25, several papers described results of recent research with the aid of the spectroscope. A short account of these papers is given in Sky and Telescope, September, by Dorrit Hoffleit. Dr. Andrew McKellar, of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, has made a critical study of the intensities of bands in the spectra of Comet Hassel (1939d) and Comet Cunningham (1940c). These bands correspond to temperatures ranging roughly from 200° to 2,000° K., and further research is desirable to explain this anomaly. The use of the spectroscope in settling the composition of planetary atmospheres has been followed by numerous theories to account for the diversity in the atmospheres of the planets, assuming that they all started their evolutionary course as homogeneous fluid masses with temperatures of several thousand degrees. Dr. Rupert Wildt discusses this problem in an interesting paper, but, as might be expected with a subject of such complexity, there is a large amount of speculation in his theories. Dr. C. T. Elvey reports on spectrophotometric and photo-electric studies of the night sky, and discusses the permanent or 'non-polar' aurora, which is much less spectacular than the better known northern or southern lights. The spectra indicate that atoms or molecules of oxygen, sodium, nitrogen, nitric oxide, water, and sometimes ionized nitrogen are involved. Spectrophotometric studies, in which Dr. Alice Farnsworth collaborated, refer to radiations originating about 800 miles above the earth's surface. Photo-electric observations concern radiations from altitudes of about 200 miles. Infra-red observations of the intensity of the light of the night sky show that there is sometimes a steady decrease throughout the night, and also that such observations are associated with times when terrestrial magnetic activity is low. It is suggested that this regular variation may be explained on the theory that the radiation is caused by the release of energy when oxygen atoms combine to form oxygen molecules.
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Spectroscopy in Astrophysics. Nature 150, 601–602 (1942). https://doi.org/10.1038/150601d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/150601d0