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Bright Star Catalogue

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The Bright Star Catalogue , also known as the Yale Catalogue of Bright Stars , Yale Bright Star Catalogue , or just YBS , is a star catalogue that lists all stars of stellar magnitude  6.5 or brighter, which is roughly every star visible to the naked eye from Earth. The catalog lists 9,110 objects, of which 9,095 are stars, 11 are novae or supernovae (which were "bright stars" only at the time when they were at their peak), and four are non-stellar objects which are the globular clusters 47 Tucanae (designated HR 95) and NGC 2808 (HR 3671), and the open clusters NGC 2281 (HR 2496) and Messier 67 (HR 3515).

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31-538: The catalogue is fixed in number of entries, but its data is maintained, and it is appended with a comments section about the objects that has been steadily enhanced. The abbreviation for the catalog as a whole is BS or YBS but all citations of stars it indexes use HR before the catalog number, a homage to the catalog's direct predecessor, published in 1908, named the Harvard Revised Photometry Catalogue . The earliest predecessor of

62-611: A reaping machine that was sent from the United States. Admission prices to the Crystal Palace varied according to the date of visit, with ticket prices decreasing as the parliamentary season drew to an end and London traditionally emptied of wealthy individuals. Prices varied from two guineas (£200 in 2015) (three guineas for a man) for a season ticket, or £1 per day (for the first two days only), then reducing to five shillings per day (until 22 May). The admission price

93-650: A series of Bulletin s were issued containing many of the major discoveries of the period. These were then replaced by Announcement Card s which continued to be issued until 1952. In 1908, the observatory published the Harvard Revised Photometry Catalogue , which gave rise to the HR star catalogue, now maintained by the Yale University Observatory as the Bright Star Catalogue . The Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of

124-474: A teenager, later said he refused to attend the Exhibition on the grounds of taste. The opening music, under the superintendence of William Sterndale Bennett , was directed by George Thomas Smart . Organised by Howard Staunton , the first international chess tournament took place at the Exhibition. The world's first soft drink , Schweppes , was the official sponsor of the event. The Great Exhibition of

155-475: The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian . HCO houses a collection of approximately 500,000 astronomical plates taken between the mid-1880s and 1989 (with a gap from 1953–1968). This 100-year coverage is a unique resource for studying temporal variations in the universe. The Digital Access to a Sky Century @ Harvard project is digitally scanning and archiving these photographic plates. In 1839,

186-578: The Great Refractor telescope to produce images of the moon that are remarkable in their clarity of detail and aesthetic power. This was the largest telescope in North America at that time, and their images of the moon took the prize for technical excellence in photography at the 1851 Great Exhibition at The Crystal Palace in London . On the night of July 16–17, 1850, Whipple and Bond made

217-574: The UBV photometric system . This can differ substantially (up to 1.8 magnitudes ) from the older system. Hence many stars brighter than V=6.50 are not in the YBSC (and hundreds of stars in the YBSC are fainter than V=6.50). Dorrit Hoffleit with Michael Saladyga and Peter Wlasuk published in 1983 a Supplement with an additional 2603 stars for which a V magnitude of brighter than 7.10 had been measured at that time. There have been one predecessor, and five editions of

248-645: The YBSC , titled Harvard Photometry , was published in 1884 by the Harvard College Observatory under the supervision of Edward Charles Pickering , and contained about 4,000 stars. Following its release, Pickering promoted a broader stellar survey for the southern celestial hemisphere, equally as thorough as the Harvard Photometry of 1884. This photometry work was carried out by Solon I. Bailey between 1889 and 1891, leading to

279-466: The Great Exhibition was a platform on which countries from around the world could display their achievements, Britain sought to prove its own superiority. The British exhibits at the Great Exhibition "held the lead in almost every field where strength, durability, utility and quality were concerned, whether in iron and steel, machinery or textiles." Britain also sought to provide the world with

310-670: The Harvard Corporation voted to appoint William Cranch Bond , a prominent Boston clockmaker, as "Astronomical Observer to the University" (at no salary). This marked the founding of the Harvard College Observatory. HCO's first telescope, the 15-inch Great Refractor , was installed in 1847. That telescope was the largest in the United States from installation until 1867. Between 1847 and 1852, Bond and pioneer photographer John Adams Whipple used

341-455: The Queen in allowing this trumpery must strike every sensible and well-thinking mind, and I am astonished the ministers themselves do not insist on her at least going to Osborne during the Exhibition, as no human being can possibly answer for what may occur on the occasion. The idea ... must shock every honest and well-meaning Englishman. But it seems everything is conspiring to lower us in

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372-673: The Works of Industry of All Nations , also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held ), was an international exhibition that took place in Hyde Park , London, from 1 May to 15 October 1851. It was the first in a series of world's fairs , exhibitions of culture and industry that became popular in the 19th century. The event

403-537: The Works of Industry of All Nations was organised by Prince Albert , Henry Cole , Francis Henry, George Wallis , Wentworth Dilke , and other members of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce as a celebration of modern industrial technology and design. It was arguably a response to the highly effective French Industrial Exposition of 1844 : indeed, its prime motive

434-787: The YBS Catalog: Harvard College Observatory The Harvard College Observatory ( HCO ) is an institution managing a complex of buildings and multiple instruments used for astronomical research by the Harvard University Department of Astronomy. It is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts , United States , and was founded in 1839. With the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory , it forms part of

465-620: The area to the south of the exhibition, nicknamed Albertopolis , alongside the Imperial Institute . The remaining surplus was used to set up an educational trust to provide grants and scholarships for industrial research; it continues to do so today. The exhibition caused controversy as its opening approached. Some conservatives feared that the mass of visitors might become a revolutionary mob. The English-born King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover , shortly before his death, wrote to Lord Strangford about it: The folly and absurdity of

496-617: The catalog, the data for the objects already listed is corrected and extended, and it is appended with a comments section about the objects. The edition of 1991 was the fifth in order, a version that introduced a considerable enhancement of the comments section, to a little more than the size of the catalogue itself. This most recent edition, in addition to several previous editions, was compiled and edited by Ellen Dorrit Hoffleit of Yale University . The Harvard Revised Photometry, based on visual observations, has been superseded by photo-electric measurements using band pass filters, most prominently

527-576: The eyes of Europe. In modern times, the Great Exhibition is a symbol of the Victorian Age , and its thick catalogue, illustrated with steel engravings, is a primary source for High Victorian design. A memorial to the exhibition, crowned with a statue of Prince Albert , is located behind the Royal Albert Hall . It is inscribed with statistics from the exhibition, including the number of visitors and exhibitors (British and foreign), and

558-513: The first daguerreotype of a star (Vega). Harvard College Observatory is historically important to astronomy, as many women including Annie Jump Cannon , Henrietta Swan Leavitt , Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin , Williamina Fleming , and Florence Cushman performed pivotal stellar classification research. Cannon, Leavitt and Cushman were hired initially as " computers " to perform calculations and examine stellar photographs, but later made insightful connections in their research. From 1898 to 1926,

589-490: The form of a massive glass house, 1848 feet long by 454 feet wide (about 563 metres by 138 metres) and was constructed from cast iron -frame components and glass made almost exclusively in Birmingham and Smethwick . From the interior, the building's large size was emphasized with trees and statues; this served, not only to add beauty to the spectacle, but also to demonstrate man's triumph over nature. The Crystal Palace

620-406: The hope of a better future. Europe had just emerged from "two difficult decades of political and social upheaval," and now Britain hoped to show that technology, particularly its own, was the key to a better future. Sophie Forgan says of the exhibition that "Large, piled-up 'trophy' exhibits in the central avenue revealed the organisers' priorities; they generally put art or colonial raw materials in

651-448: The most prestigious place. Technology and moving machinery were popular, especially working exhibits." She also notes that visitors "could watch the entire process of cotton production from spinning to finished cloth. Scientific instruments were found in class X, and included electric telegraphs, microscopes, air pumps and barometers, as well as musical, horological and surgical instruments." A special building, or "The Great Shalimar ",

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682-445: The opening day, all of which were bought. To attract future customers from the working classes, the newly expanding railways offered highly discounted tickets for people to travel from distant parts of the country, and special rates were offered to parties, often led by the local vicar. Those too poor to travel lined up by the rail tracks to watch the long trains of open carriages steaming past. The Great Exhibition of 1851 encouraged

713-472: The production of souvenirs. Several manufacturers produced stereoscope cards that provided a three-dimensional view of the exhibition. These paper souvenirs were printed lithographic cards which were hand-coloured and held together by cloth to give a three-dimensional view of the event. They offered a miniature view of the Crystal Palace when one viewed the cards through the peep holes on the front cover. Visitors purchased these souvenirs so that they could relive

744-435: The profit made. A range of medals were produced and awarded to exhibitors, jurists and providers of services. The official descriptive and illustrated catalogue of the event lists exhibitors not only from throughout Britain but also from its "Colonies and Dependencies" and 44 "Foreign States". Numbering 13,000 in total, the exhibits included a Jacquard loom , an envelope machine, kitchen appliances, steel-making displays and

775-594: The publication of the Revised Harvard Photometry in 1908. The new catalogue contained stars down to magnitude  6.5 in both hemispheres, for which John A. Parkhurst continued work through the 1920s. The Yale Bright Star Catalogue has been steadily enhanced since the Yale astronomer Frank Schlesinger published the first version in 1930; even though the YBS is limited to the 9110 objects already in

806-620: The time—visited the Great Exhibition. The average daily attendance was 42,831 with a peak of 109,915 on 7 October. Thomas Cook arranged travel to the event for 150,000 people and it was important in his company's development. The event made a surplus of £186,000 (£33,221,701.65 in 2023), which was used to found the Victoria and Albert Museum , the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum . They were all built in

837-423: Was an enormous success, considered an architectural marvel, but also an engineering triumph that showed the importance of the exhibition itself. The building was later moved and re-erected in 1854 in enlarged form at Sydenham Hill in south London, an area that was renamed Crystal Palace . It was destroyed by fire on 30 November 1936. Six million people—equivalent to a third of the entire population of Britain at

868-415: Was built to house the show. It was designed by Joseph Paxton with support from structural engineer Charles Fox , the committee overseeing its construction including Isambard Kingdom Brunel , and went from its organisation to the grand opening in just nine months. The building was architecturally adventurous, drawing on Paxton's experience designing greenhouses for the sixth Duke of Devonshire . It took

899-478: Was for Britain to make "clear to the world its role as industrial leader". Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's consort, was an enthusiastic promoter of the self-financing exhibition; the government was persuaded to form the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 to establish the viability of hosting such an exhibition. Queen Victoria visited three times with her family, and 34 times on her own. Although

930-657: Was organised by Henry Cole and Prince Albert , husband of Victoria , Queen of the United Kingdom. Famous people of the time attended the Great Exhibition, including Charles Darwin , Karl Marx , Michael Faraday (who assisted with the planning and judging of exhibits), Samuel Colt , members of the Orléanist royal family and the writers Charlotte Brontë , Charles Dickens , Lewis Carroll , George Eliot , Alfred Tennyson , and William Makepeace Thackeray . The future Arts and Crafts proponent William Morris , then

961-418: Was then further reduced to one shilling (£5 in 2015), per day—except on Fridays, when it was set at two shillings and six pence, and on Saturdays when it remained at five shillings. The one-shilling ticket proved most successful among the industrial classes, with four and a half million shillings (£22,000,000 in 2015) being taken from attendees in this manner. Two thousand five hundred tickets were printed for

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