The main purpose of this volume is to reproduce and make available for
study, the larger and more interesting nebulæ and clusters on the
programme, sixty-eight in number. The thirty-six subjects not reproduced
are for the most part small or apparently not of special interest. The
difficulties attending the reproduction of astronomical photographs by
mechanical processes are well-known to all who have made the attempt. It
seems necessary to recognize, at least at present, that delicate details
of structure will be lost, and that contrasts between very bright and very
faint regions will be changed, especially if a good sky background is
preserved; in other words, that the best obtainable reproductions fall far
short of doing justice to the original photographs. Technical studies
should be based upon the original negatives or upon copies on glass.
After considerable experimental work, involving several methods and
several firms, the making of the heliogravure plates and the hand-press
prints was entrusted to The Photogravure and Color Company of New York
City. To this firm's continued interest and willingness to act on
constructive criticism is due much of the excellence of the results.
The expensive reproductions could hardly have been undertaken without the
generous assistance of the donors mentioned on a preceding page.
Professor Keeler's description of the Crossley reflector, of his methods
of observing, and of the chief results obtained, was written only a short
time before his death. It is here republished. Other results of his work
are described in the several papers to which the footnotes refer.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
The Orion Nebula, _Frontispiece_
The Crossley Reflector of the Lick Observatory, Page 11
List of Nebulæ and Clusters Photographed, " 30
Catalogue of New Nebulæ Discovered on the Negatives, " 31
Positions of Known Nebulæ Determined from the Crossley Negatives, " 42
List of Illustrations, " 45
Illustrations, following " 46
THE CROSSLEY REFLECTOR OF THE LICK OBSERVATORY.[1]
By JAMES E. KEELER.
The Crossley reflector, at present the largest instrument of its class in
America, was made in 1879 by Dr. A. A. Common, of London, in order to
carry out, and test by practical observation, certain ideas of his
respecting the design of large reflecting telescopes. For the construction
of the instrument embodying these ideas, and for some fine astronomical
photographs obtained with it, Dr. Common was awarded the gold medal of the
Royal Astronomical Society in 1884.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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