Starlight Detectives

by Alan Hirshfeld

  p. 118“Dr. Draper’s negative was made . . .”—Holden (1882), p. 227.

  p. 118“The photographic plate . . .”—Pickering (1886), p. 181.

  p. 119“It is only a short time since . . .”—H. Draper (1882b), p. 341.

  p. 119“I think we are by no means . . .”—Whitney (1972), p. 180.

  p. 119“It is hard to avoid the appearance . . .”—Young (1882), p. 333.

  Chapter 10. Leaves of Glass

  p. 120“The camera is an encroaching instrument . . .”—Clerke (1888), p. 28.

  p. 120“was always at the telescope”—Turner (1904), p. 313.

  p. 121“full of enterprise . . .”—Turner (1903), p. 306.

  p. 121“half submerged by the fogs . . .”—Clerke (1888), p. 46.

  p. 122“the world was naturally . . .”—Turner (1903), p. 307.

  p. 122“The work of correcting was tedious . . .”—Calver (1879), p. 19.

  p. 122“I see no obstacles . . .”—Calver (1879), p. 20.

  p. 123“The stars were seen as lines . . .”—Stone (1884), pp. 221–222.

  p. 123“delusion”—Keeler (1908), p. 10.

  p. 125“epoch-making”—Ball (1904), p. 361.

  p. 125“assumed the office of historiographer . . .”—Clerke (1893), p. 490.

  p. 126“‘Streamers and fleecy masses’ . . .”—Clerke (1886), p. 42.

  p. 126“cloud-like, curdling masses.”—Roberts (1887), p. 89.

  p. 127“[W]e ought, with all gratitude . . .”—Roberts (1889b), p. 297.

  p. 128“a candle shining through . . .”—King (1955), p. 46.

  p. 128“two luminous cones or pyramids . . .”—de Vaucouleurs (1987), p. 595.

  p. 128“a mystery never in . . .”—de Vaucouleurs (1987), p. 596.

  p. 128“one of the most valuable photographs . . .”—Macdonald (2010), p. 243.

  p. 129“lines of small stars shown . . .”—Ranyard (1889), p. 76.

  p. 129“united luster of millions . . .”—de Vaucouleurs (1987), p. 596.

  p. 129“Here one might see a new solar system . . .”—Smith (2008), p. 96.

  p. 130“library, not of books . . .”—Common (1884–85), p. 39.

  p. 131“[T]he facility of reproduction . . .”—Barker (1888), p. 83.

  Chapter 11. The Grandest Failure

  p. 132“If we could first know . . .” —Lincoln, Abraham. “House Divided Speech,” 1858, [www.abrahamlincolnonline.org].

  p. 132“rigorously orthodox kind”—Clerke (1888), p. 32.

  p. 132“of two points marking a frontage . . .”—Gill (1891), p. 604.

  p. 133“[H]owever perfect an instrument may be . . .”—Tenn (1990a), p. 85.

  p. 133“no dreamy contemplation . . .”—Gill (1891), p. 603.

  p. 133“betake themselves to bed . . .”—Gill (1891), p. 603.

  p. 133“only a merging into a rich yellow . . .”—Gill (1882a), p. 20.

  p. 135“Should they fade and vanish . . .”—Clerke (1888), p. 33.

  p. 136“If we can get over the distortion . . .”—Darius (1983), p. 48.

  p. 136“so united that often at the Observatory . . .”—Callandreau (1903), p. 558.

  p. 138“We should hardly be willing . . .”—Lankford (1984), p. 32.

  p. 138“rival scheme”—Turner and Common (1889), p. 310.

  p. 138“. . . thus neither treated the resolutions . . .”—Turner and Common (1889), pp. 309–311.

  p. 139“It is the first time I have ever felt obliged . . .”—Jones and Boyd (1971), p. 276.

  p. 139“[W]hatever can be done to promote the work . . .”—Jones and Boyd (1971), p. 277

  p. 139“It is difficult to believe . . .”—Pickering (1889), p. 375.

  p. 139“I am disgusted . . .”—Jones and Boyd (1971), p. 276.

  p. 139“[S]uch protests . . .”—Gill (1888), p. 321.

  p. 140“had the consciousness of a power . . .”—Whittingdale (1943), p. 75.

  p. 141“advancement of the physical side of astronomy . . .”—Plotkin (1990), p. 47.

  p. 142“inquiries of this [physical] sort . . .”—Young (1887), p. 354.

  p. 142“greatest triumph . . .”—Evans (1984), p. 156.

  p. 143“vermin of the skies”—Ashbrook (1984). p. 297.

  Chapter 12. An Uncivil War

  p. 144“It is a remarkable and highly significant fact . . .”—Keeler (1899a), p. 128.

  p. 145“the Dictator . . .”—Osterbrock (1984), p. 81.

  p. 146“a pile of junk.”—Osterbrock (1984), p. 158.

  p. 146“as antiquated . . . as Noah’s ark”—“Mountain Homes Shut . . .” (1897), p. 23.

  p. 146“a monstrosity. Despite . . .”—Shane (1964), p. 83.

  p. 146“peace commission is already . . .”—“War Once More . . .” (1897), p. 14.

  p. 146“rather wish the accident . . .”—“Mountain Homes Shut . . .” (1897), p. 23.

  p. 146“[T]here is civil war . . .”—Turner and Hollis (1897), p. 296.

  p. 146“Why should a Derby-winner end . . .”—Turner and Hollis (1897), p. 300.

  p. 147“sparsely wooded mountain land . . .”—Hansen (1947), pp. 188–189.

  p. 147“Keeler doesn’t claim . . .”—Campbell (1900), p. 240.

  p. 148“The difficulties here referred to . . .”—Keeler (1900), p. 326.

  p. 148“On one of the fine nights . . .”—Keeler (1899c), p. 200.

  p. 151“does not tire, as the eye does . . .”—Holden (1886), p. 468.

  Part II. Seeing the Light

  p. 153“The physicist and the chemist . . .”—De La Rue (1861), p. 130.

  Chapter 13. The Odd Couple

  p. 155“The most important discovery . . .”—Roscoe (1900), p. 530.

  p. 155“produces instantaneous tingling . . .”—Roscoe (1900), pp. 517–518.

  p. 155“had a very salamanderlike power . . .”—Roscoe (1900), pp. 545–546.

  p. 156“with the true perseverance . . .”—Roscoe (1900), p. 513.

  p. 156“Why Heidelberg . . .”—Turgenev, Ivan. Fathers and Sons. Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 68.

  p. 156“Beneath the stone floor . . .”—Roscoe (1900), p. 545.

  p. 156“I thought I had dropped . . .”—Roscoe (1900), p. 544.

  p. 156“It was quite in keeping . . .”—“Professor R. W. Bunsen” (1900), p. 101.

  p. 157“Heaven forbid, when I should . . .”—Oesper (1927), p. 435.

  p. 157“The only value . . .”—Oesper (1927), p. 434.

  p. 157“the man who came nearest . . .”—Oesper (1927), p. 439.

  p. 157“Ah, so many sit . . .”—Roscoe (1906), p. 54.

  p. 158“Alas, no, my untimely death prevented . . .”—Roscoe (1900), p. 542.

  p. 158“A chemist who is not a physicist . . .”—Oesper (1927), p. 438.

  p. 159“I am currently quite annoyed . . .”—Oldham (2008), p. 51.

  p. 160“It will do me some good . . .”—Oldham (2008), p. 164.

  p. 160“My stay in Breslau has recently become . . .”—Warburg (1929), p. 207.

  p. 161“first notables of science”—Jungnickel and McCormmach (1990), p. 288.

  p. 161“two scientists who by working together . . .”—Jungnickel and McCormmach (1990), p. 288.

  Chapter 14. What’s My Line?

  p. 163“The world is moved along . . .”—Keller, Helen. Optimism: An Essay. 1903, [www.gutenberg.org]. Adapted from a letter by English historian John Richard Green, December 21, 1870.

  p. 163“Light it self is a . . .”—Newton (1671), p. 3079.

  p. 165“By candle-light . . .”—Wollaston (1802), p. 380.

  p. 167“In such a way . . .”—von Rohr (1926), p. 286.

  p. 168It would be of great importance . . .”—Fraunhofer (1823), pp. 290–291.

  p. 169“I will prepare the apparatus . . .”—Jackson (1996), p. 14.

  p. 169“On looking as I was directed . . .”—Jackson (1996), p. 14.


  p. 170“I have seen with certainty in the spectrum . . .”—Hearnshaw (1987), p. 323.

  p. 171“A cotton wick is soaked . . .”—Talbot (1826), p. 78.

  p. 171“a glance at the prismatic spectrum . . .”—James (1981), p. 34.

  p. 172“[Salt] floats in the air . . .”—Clerke (1902), p. 132.

  p. 172“though doubtless very accurate . . .”—James (1983), p. 32.

  Chapter 15. Laboratories of Light

  p. 173“[I]n order to examine the composition . . .”—Kirchhoff and Bunsen (1860), p. 107.

  p. 173“At present, Kirchhoff and I . . .”—Gingerich (1992), p. 171.

  p. 176“for if bodies should exist . . .”—Kirchhoff and Bunsen (1860), p. 107.

  p. 177“I made some observations . . .”—Kirchhoff (1860), p. 195.

  p. 178“that the dark lines . . .”—Kirchhoff (1860), p. 195.

  p. 179“The sun possesses an incandescent . . .”—Kirchhoff (1861a), pp. 185–186.

  p. 180“if anyone asked me . . .”—Meadows (1970), pp. 135–136.

  p. 180“we approach the question of the habitability . . .”—More Worlds Than One, London: John Murray (1854), p. 97.

  p. 180“at once destroyed, at a blow, the idea . . .”—Lockyer (1881), p. 269.

  p. 180“victory over space”—Schuster (1881), p. 468.

  p. 181“In the lower half of the field . . .”—Roscoe (1862), p. 328.

  p. 182“if we were to go to the sun . . .”—De La Rue (1861), p. 130.

  p. 182“our readers will feel an interest . . .”—Crookes (1861), p. 184.

  p. 183“In these expressions . . .”—Kirchhoff (1863), p. 252.

  p. 183“I have laid Prof. Miller’s diagrams . . .”—Kirchhoff (1863), p. 255.

  p. 183“read Miller’s words . . .”—Kirchhoff (1863), p. 261.

  p. 183“It is seen that the proposition . . .”—Kirchhoff (1863), p. 258.

  p. 183“had clearly propounded this question . . .”—Kirchhoff (1863), p. 256.

  p. 184“I have recently read, with very great interest . . .”—De La Rue (1861), p. 131.

  p. 185“The real importance of . . .”—James (1985), p. 13.

  p. 185“What do I care for gold . . .”—Helmholtz (1888), p. 537.

  p. 185“Look here . . .”—Helmholtz (1888), p. 537.

  Chapter 16. Deconstructing the Sun

  p. 186“It is not an uncommon thing . . .”—Sutton (1986), p. 429.

  p. 187“I certainly have never seen any thing . . .”—Rutherfurd (1878), p. 43.

  p. 188“On reaching New York I called . . .”—Meadows (1984a), p. 62.

  p. 188“picture is absolutely unretouched . . .”—Draper (1873), p. 417.

  p. 188“I am glad that you have stated so clearly . . .”—John Browning to Henry Draper, January 4, 1874, in Plotkin (1982), p. 40.

  p. 189“superiority is so great there . . .”—Hentschel (1999), p. 208.

  p. 190“There is argon in the gas . . .”—Kragh (2009), p. 174.

  p. 191“The slit of my spectroscope was placed . . .”—Frost (1910), p. 96.

  p. 191“The phenomenon was so sudden . . .”—Meadows (1970), p. 221.

  Chapter 17. A Strange Cryptography

  p. 194“[W]hen a molecule of hydrogen vibrates . . .”—Morus (2005), p. 214.

  p. 195“Talent and zeal, untiring devotion . . .”—“Report of the Council to the Thirty-Eighth General Meeting of the Society.” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (1858), p. 110.

  p. 196“This news was to me like the coming upon . . .”—Becker (2011), p. 331.

  p. 198“enable the observer to determine . . .”—Huggins and Miller (1864), p. 414.

  p. 201“the numerous and closely approximated fine lines . . .”—Huggins and Miller (1864), pp. 413–414.

  p. 201“[T]he positions which he ascribes . . .”—Huggins and Miller (1864), p. 414.

  p. 203“strange cryptography of unravelled starlight”—From the original, “Within this unravelled starlight exists a strange cryptography.” Huggins (1897), p. 909.

  p. 203“that the stars, while differing . . .”—Huggins and Miller (1864), p. 434.

  p. 203“surrounded by planets . . .”—Huggins and Miller (1864), p. 434.

  p. 204“if it could be successfully applied . . .”—Huggins (1864c), p. 437.

  p. 205“armed with the spectrum apparatus”—Huggins (1864c), p. 438.

  p. 205“At first I suspected some derangement . . .”—Huggins (1864c), p. 438.

  p. 205“It is obvious . . .”—Huggins (1864c), p. 442.

  p. 206“star clusters grown misty through . . .”—Clerke (1893), p. 484.

  p. 206“science will be more advanced by the slow . . .”—Huggins (1865a), p. 449.

  p. 207“[H]e was frequently called upon to speak . . .”—Dreyer and Turner (1923), p. 153.

  p. 207“Forward”—Becker (2011), p. 77.

  Chapter 18. Trumpets and Telescopes

  p. 208“This time was, indeed, one of strained expectation . . .”—Huggins (1897), p. 913.

  p. 212“[I]n considering the importance of his principle . . .”—Hearnshaw (1992), p. 162.

  p. 213“if the colours were really tinged . . .”—Becker (2011), p. 131.

  p. 215“It has something to do with change . . .”—Becker (2011), p. 121.

  p. 215“a new method of research . . .”—Huggins (1897), pp. 921–922

  Chapter 19. Burn This Note

  p. 217“I want to tell Huggins how much you have done . . .”—Becker (2011), p. 180.

  p. 217“scientific housemaid”—Tenn (1986), p. 10.

  p. 218“I had to teach myself what to do . . .”—Tenn (1986), pp. 9–10.

  p. 218“in which case I should help in arranging instruments . . .”—Tenn (1986), p. 10

  p. 218“One is interesting with a lump of engineer’s waste . . .”—Tenn (1986), p. 10.

  p. 218“I am very glad to learn . . .”—Becker (2011), p. 179.

  p. 219“was occupied on all favorable days . . .”—Becker (2011), p. 185.

  p. 220“Huggins is very pleasant & everything . . .”—Edward S. Holden to Henry Draper, August 2, 1876. Becker (2011), p. 180.

  p. 220“The research is difficult . . .”—H. Draper (1877), p. 95.

  p. 220“You can either make star spectra . . .”—J. W. Draper to Henry Draper, August 15, 1876. Plotkin (1972), p. 46.

  p. 221“He was greatly surprised at my spectra . . .”—William Huggins to Charles A. Young, January 31, 1883. Becker (2011), p. 224.

  p. 221“You cannot imagine the pain . . .”—Becker (2011), p. 224.

  p. 222“grand rhythmical group”—Huggins (1897), p. 927.

  p. 222“whether these lines are not intimately connected . . .”—Huggins (1880), p. 678.

  p. 223“experiments and the preparations for them . . .”—Draper (1879), p. 420.

  p. 223“it may be possible for you after a time . . .”—Becker (2011), p. 225.

  p. 224“physical side of astronomy”—Plotkin (1990), p. 48.

  p. 224“This star [Epsilon Lyrae] appears double . . .”—Plotkin (1980), p. 285.

  p. 224“I urged upon him the importance of an early publication . . .”—Edward Pickering to Anna Palmer Draper, January 13, 1883. Jones and Boyd (1971), p. 220.

  p. 224“yet I feel so very incompetent for the task . . .”—Anna Palmer Draper to Edward Pickering, January 17, 1883. Jones and Boyd (1971), pp. 220–221.

  p. 225“It is not necessary that the paper should . . .”—Boyd (1969), p. 81.

  p. 225“very wild indeed . . .”—William Huggins to Edward Pickering, March 12, 1884. Jones and Boyd (1971), p. 224.

  p. 225“Dr. Huggins’ arguments, that results . . .”—Edward Pickering to Anna Palmer Draper, March 31, 1884. Boyd (1969), p. 85.

  p. 225“Your publication [of 1880] does not enable . . .”—Edward Pickering to William Huggins, March 31, 1884. Jones and Boyd (1971), p
. 225.

  p. 226“I cannot tell whether you have been led astray . . .”—William Huggins to Edward Pickering, April 1884. Jones and Boyd (1971), p. 225.

  p. 226“I felt very sorry that you should have been subjected . . .”—Anna Palmer Draper to Edward Pickering, April 30, 1884. Jones and Boyd (1971), pp. 225–226.

  p. 227“I wonder what Mr. Huggins will say . . .”—Anna Palmer Draper to Edward Pickering, January 23, 1887. Jones and Boyd (1971), p. 230.

  p. 227“induce other astronomers to undertake . . .”—Jones and Boyd (1971), p. 229.

  p. 227“I quite agree with you in feeling . . .”—Jones and Boyd (1971), pp. 230–231.

  p. 227“I have just received a paper . . .”—Becker (2011), p. 225.

  p. 229“I do think we have in photography . . .”—Lockyer (July 30, 1874), p. 255.

  Chapter 20. A Spectacle of Suns

  p. 230“Astronomy paints its picture in the brighter colors . . .”—Keeler (1897), p. 275.

  p. 234“When one component is approaching . . .”—Pickering (1890), pp. 46–47.

  p. 234“[I]s it not a sufficient argument . . .”—Edward Pickering to Anna Palmer Draper, December 8, 1889. Jones and Boyd (1971), p. 244.

  p. 236“Translating the mathematical formulae . . .”—Keeler (1891), p. 48.

  Chapter 21. The Cloud That Wasn’t There

  p. 237“The born astronomer . . .”—Newcomb (1897), pp. 305–306.

  p. 239“pictorial and qualitative rather than metrical . . .”—Frost (1899), p. 367.

  p. 239“One could always tell how the night had been . . .”—Struve and Zebergs (1962), p. 47.

  p. 240“They are intended to be looked at . . .”—Barnard (1895), p. 63.

  p. 241“it will be seen . . .”—Barnard (1895), pp. 64–65.

  p. 241“These nebulosities . . . have been amply verified . . .”—Barnard (1899), p. 155.

  p. 241“a little unreasonable to suppose that Herschel . . .”—Barnard (1903), p. 78.

  p. 243“Most of the great curved nebula . . .”—Barnard (1903), p. 80.

  p. 243“with the same instruments described in his present . . .”—Barnard (1903), p. 80.

  p. 243“showed, besides the great Orion Nebula . . .”—Roberts (1903d), p. 158.

  p. 243“Difficulty seems to have a peculiar . . .”—Hills (1914), p. 389.

  p. 245“I shall not be sorry to have him go . . .”—McDonald (2010), p. 256.

  p. 245“The new Society is designed to be popular . . .”—Bracher (1989), p. 7.