Other
Scientific paper
Oct 1986
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1986s%26t....72..326m&link_type=abstract
Sky and Telescope (ISSN 0037-6604), vol. 72, Oct. 1986, p. 326-330.
Other
Astrometry, Colorimetry, Stellar Color, Astronomical Catalogs, Astronomical Photography, Brightness, Southern Sky, Stellar Magnitude
Scientific paper
Efforts over the past century to see and interpret the colors of stars are recounted. The eye, being most sensitive to green and yellow wavelengths, rarely sees stars as blue unless this color is accentuated by a contrast effect like that found in double star systems such as beta Cygni; photographic films, on the other hand, 'see' blue stars as much brighter than the eye does. The difference between the two apparent magnitudes is the basis of today's B-V color index, the most commonly used indicator of a star's surface temperature. An accident is reported while observing in the prime-focus cage of the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT), revealing a way to photograph subtle star colors over a brightness range of six or seven stellar magnitudes (about nine f/stops photographically): when the clock drive of the big telescope failed for a time, trailed 'step-focus' photographs were taken focussing at closer and closer distances every few minutes with the shutter remaining open. Development of the film revealed a pattern of colored 'cones' (overlapping, offset disks of increasing size) for the brighter stars as the out-of-focus images became bigger.
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