An astronomical star catalogue lists stars by number according to different criteria (such as their magnitude), which can provide insight into the positions of stars, how they change over time, and even the history and culture of the astronomers who create these catalogues. As early as the 2nd millennium B.C.E, star catalogues have been kept (Van der Waerden); they can be seen all over the world and across cultures, increasing in breadth over time as the technology of telescopes advanced and allowed humans to see more stars than with the naked eye.
The Henry Draper catalogue, an extremely useful tool for astronomers, is the result of the work of many different researchers in the early 19th century, including Williamina Fleming, Antonia Maury, …show more content…
After Draper’s death, his widow agreed to fund astronomer Edward Pickering’s research in photographic spectroscopy on the condition that it be named after her husband. (James) In 1885, Pickering began his research at Harvard University with the goal of creating a full-sky star catalogue, categorizing stars based on their spectra. This was the first large-scale undertaking of this type of research, and it was tedious work to analyze every photograph for spectral elements. The task was made more difficult by the fact that so many stars could be observed; the first catalogue, called the Draper Catalogue of Stellar Spectra, classified 10,351 stars, and more were added in later extensions for a total of 359,083. Furthermore, the technology in astrophotography had advanced to the point where more data was coming into the observatory than they were able to process. In order to get through this work more quickly and cheaply, Pickering hired over 80 women over the course of the research, giving them the jobs of analyzing spectral photographs for absorption lines in order to be classified.
Williamina Fleming, former housekeeper of Pickering and the woman whom Pickering put in charge of the other workers, classified the stellar objects by their hydrogen lines. In the spectra of the various objects they were observing, the absorption lines of hydrogen were very strong in some objects and very weak in others, which was indicative of the amount of hydrogen in that object. Fleming decided to categorize the stars based on the strength of their hydrogen absorption lines, where spectra with the strongest lines were labeled “A” and the weakest were labeled
The Henry Draper catalogue, an extremely useful tool for astronomers, is the result of the work of many different researchers in the early 19th century, including Williamina Fleming, Antonia Maury, …show more content…
After Draper’s death, his widow agreed to fund astronomer Edward Pickering’s research in photographic spectroscopy on the condition that it be named after her husband. (James) In 1885, Pickering began his research at Harvard University with the goal of creating a full-sky star catalogue, categorizing stars based on their spectra. This was the first large-scale undertaking of this type of research, and it was tedious work to analyze every photograph for spectral elements. The task was made more difficult by the fact that so many stars could be observed; the first catalogue, called the Draper Catalogue of Stellar Spectra, classified 10,351 stars, and more were added in later extensions for a total of 359,083. Furthermore, the technology in astrophotography had advanced to the point where more data was coming into the observatory than they were able to process. In order to get through this work more quickly and cheaply, Pickering hired over 80 women over the course of the research, giving them the jobs of analyzing spectral photographs for absorption lines in order to be classified.
Williamina Fleming, former housekeeper of Pickering and the woman whom Pickering put in charge of the other workers, classified the stellar objects by their hydrogen lines. In the spectra of the various objects they were observing, the absorption lines of hydrogen were very strong in some objects and very weak in others, which was indicative of the amount of hydrogen in that object. Fleming decided to categorize the stars based on the strength of their hydrogen absorption lines, where spectra with the strongest lines were labeled “A” and the weakest were labeled