Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10679
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Colours of double stars
Date
1864
After
William Henry Smyth (1788 - 1865, British) , Naval officer
Object type
Library reference
R64003
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (painting): 252mm
width (painting): 159mm
width (painting): 159mm
Subject
Description
Colour chart for the classification of double-stars by optical astronomy.
Plate from Sidereal chromatics; being a re-print, with additions, from the “Bedford cycle of celestial objects,” and its “Hartwell continuation,” on the colours of multiple stars by William Henry Smyth (London, John Bowyer Nichols and Sons, 1864).
The plate carries no artist or printer credits. In his accompanying text the author states that: “By the adoption of a new and firmer method of registry, many of the differences now on record may turn out to be more apparent than real, and will probably disappear before the organised process of using an accepted chromatic scale with educated eyes.” The chart omits shades between white and pale yellow as being “unfit for representation and lamplight reference”.
William Henry Smyth was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1826.
Plate from Sidereal chromatics; being a re-print, with additions, from the “Bedford cycle of celestial objects,” and its “Hartwell continuation,” on the colours of multiple stars by William Henry Smyth (London, John Bowyer Nichols and Sons, 1864).
The plate carries no artist or printer credits. In his accompanying text the author states that: “By the adoption of a new and firmer method of registry, many of the differences now on record may turn out to be more apparent than real, and will probably disappear before the organised process of using an accepted chromatic scale with educated eyes.” The chart omits shades between white and pale yellow as being “unfit for representation and lamplight reference”.
William Henry Smyth was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1826.
Associated place