Abstract
FROM the occasional observations which I have been able to make of the nova in Cygnus, I have formed the impression that the star has followed the normal course for such objects, except that the rise to maximum may have been more prolonged, and the subsequent decline in brightness more rapid, than usual. On August 22, two days after discovery, bright lines were not discernible with a small spectroscope attached to a 3-in. refractor, thus suggesting that the maximum had not then been reached. The star was seen for a short time on August 23, when it had risen to nearly second magnitude; but there was no opportunity of making spectroscopic observations. On August 26 observations were made by Sir Frank Dyson and myself with the 12-in. reflector of the Penylan Observatory, Cardiff, from ioh. to 11h. G.M.T. The star was then very slightly brighter than δ Cygni, but not so bright as γ Cygni, so that its magnitude would be about 2.8. Bright lines were then well developed, Hα being conspicuous, and also the group of four lines in the green assumed to be Hβ, 4924, 5018, and 5169. On August 28, so far as could be observed with a 3-in. telescope (in London), the spectrum showed no marked change, though the star had then fallen to nearly fourth magnitude.
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FOWLER, A. The New Star in Cygnus. Nature 106, 32 (1920). https://doi.org/10.1038/106032a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/106032a0