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11 - Special topics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2010

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Summary

The last chapter covers themes, spreading over a large fraction of the nineteenth century and involving many eminent visual observers. Thus it was impossible to treat them in closed form in the above sections. This concerns observation methods, measurements and presentations of some key objects. The topic ‘resolvability of nebulae’ is excluded here, because it is strongly related to William Herschel's ideas about the nature and evolution of nebulae and therefore cannot be separated from the previous text. Section 11.1 treats positional measurements, often made by professional astronomers using refractors with micrometers or meridian-circles. Inspired by the success for stars, it was hoped that it would be possible to detect proper motions of nebulae to determine their distances and spatial distribution. The result was negative, since most objects are too far away and the accuracy of the measuring method was too low. Another, much more debated topic is drawings. Section 11.2 describes the main problem: the subjectivity in perception and presentation of non-stellar objects. Prior to photography, textual descriptions or sketches were the only way to capture the appearance. An important goal was the detection of change concerning form or brightness. This attempt failed as well – the differences due to the observers were too large. A special kind of object was discovered by Lord Rosse in the year 1845: the spiral nebula. The first was M 51, a bright galaxy in Canes Venatici.

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Observing and Cataloguing Nebulae and Star Clusters
From Herschel to Dreyer's New General Catalogue
, pp. 472 - 561
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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  • Special topics
  • Wolfgang Steinicke
  • Book: Observing and Cataloguing Nebulae and Star Clusters
  • Online publication: 06 December 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511761430.012
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  • Special topics
  • Wolfgang Steinicke
  • Book: Observing and Cataloguing Nebulae and Star Clusters
  • Online publication: 06 December 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511761430.012
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Special topics
  • Wolfgang Steinicke
  • Book: Observing and Cataloguing Nebulae and Star Clusters
  • Online publication: 06 December 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511761430.012
Available formats
×