A newly-discovered accurate early drawing of M51, the Whirlpool Nebula

Details A newly-discovered accurate early drawing of M51, the Whirlpool Nebula A newly-discovered accurate early drawing of M51, the Whirlpool Nebula

Jul 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008jahh...11..107t&link_type=abstract

Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage (ISSN 1440-2807), Vol. 11, No. 2, p. 107 - 115 (2008).

Other

1

Reflecting Telescopes, Nebulae, Spiral Structure, Leon Foucault, Lord Rosse, M51, Whirlpool Nebula

Scientific paper

We have discovered a lost drawing of M51, the nebula in which spiral structure was first discovered by Lord Rosse. The drawing was made in April 1862 by Jean Chacornac at the Paris Observatory using Lèon Foucault's newly-completed 80-cm silvered-glass reflecting telescope. Comparison with modern images shows that Chacornac's drawing was more accurate with respect to gross structure and showed fainter details than any other nineteenth century drawing, although its superiority would not have been apparent at the time without nebular photography to provide a standard against which to judge drawing quality. M51 is now known as the Whirlpool Nebula, but the astronomical appropriation of ‘whirlpool’ predates Rosse's discovery.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

A newly-discovered accurate early drawing of M51, the Whirlpool Nebula does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with A newly-discovered accurate early drawing of M51, the Whirlpool Nebula, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and A newly-discovered accurate early drawing of M51, the Whirlpool Nebula will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1324207