Photographic investigations of faint nebulae — John Shaqi
Photographic investigations of faint nebulaeHubble, Edwin
Science
Photographic investigations of faint nebulae
Hubble, Edwin
Nebulae
The tendency of small nebulae to gather in clusters has been known for
some time. Stratonoff’s map of the distribution of faint nebulae in the
Northern Hemisphere shows it very plainly. Max Wolf’s more detailed
study of the ecliptic regions with the 16-inch Bruce camera and the
30-inch reflector demonstrates that within these larger regions of the
sky where nebulae tend to congregate there are points of accumulation
about which the clustering is more marked. He measured the positions
of more than four thousand new nebulae, and devised a classification
which, while admittedly formal, offers an excellent scheme for
temporary filing until a significant system shall be constructed.
The present paper has to do with certain clusters of small, faint
nebulae which the writer found during the years 1914 to 1916 while
photographing with the 24-inch reflector of the Yerkes Observatory.
From about 1000 uncatalogued objects, 512 in 7 well-defined clusters
were chosen for measurement. Known nebulae in the clusters numbered 76;
hence there were, in all, some 588 objects, or an average of 84 per
cluster. The fields are as given in Table I.
The problem of measuring and reducing accurate positions of objects
at a considerable distance from the center of plates taken with
a reflector of so large a focal ratio, 1:4, presented serious
difficulties. The area covered by each plate is a square of some 110´
to the side. With the full aperture the stellar images are sensibly
round only within 5′ of the optical center of the plate. From there
outward the coma becomes more and more prominent, distorting the images
first into an oval, and finally, near the edge of the plate, into the
shape of an arrow, while the point about which the images build up
becomes more and more eccentric. For images of various sizes this point
will be at various distances from the centers of figure, and at 40′
from the center will fall very nearly at the point of the arrow. This
introduces at once an overwhelming magnitude-error, masking whatever
distortion of the field may exist.
TABLE I
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