S Andromedae,1885: An Analysis of Contemporary Reports and a Reconstruction

For want of any other suitable category, it was classed as a ‘variable’ star for which the letters R onwards were allotted in each constellation.

Those of Lundmark (Kgl. Svensk. Handlingar, lx, no. 8 (1920)) and of Hartwig himself (Geschichte und Literatur des Lichtwechsels (Leipzig, 1920), 417–20). The only recent discussion of the event seems to be that of Gaposchkin, “The Elusive Maximum of S Andromedae”, Sky and telescope, xxi (1961), 326–7. This is referred to in more detail in the second part of this paper.

Maunder E. W. , “The New Star in the Great Nebula in Andromeda”, Observatory, viii (1885), 321–5, p. 321.

de Konkoly N. , Letter to Observatory ( ibid. , 331). Miklos Konkoly-Thege (1842–1916) founded a private observatory at Ó-Gyallai in 1871. It was transferred to state ownership in 1899, and after some vicissitudes—it became Czechoslovakian territory in 1918—it is still in operation. Its largest telescope was a 27cm Merz refractor, and Konkoly, who was influential in establishing astronomical interest in Hungary, specialized in solar observations, comet and stellar spectroscopy and variable star photometry. I am indebted to M. Bela Szentmartoni of Kaposvar, Hungary, for this information.

Müller G. and Hartwig E. (eds), Geschichte und Literatur des Lichtwechsels, ii (Leipzig, 1920), 417–20.

Ward I. , Letter to Astronomical register, xxiii (1885), 242.

Reported by Flammarion C. , “Apparition d'une Étoile dans la Nébuleuse d'Andromède”, L'astronomie, iv (1885), 361–7, p. 363.

See Clerke A. M. , The system of the stars (London, 1890), 104.

Reported by Clark J. E. , letter to Nature, 24 September 1885 (vol. xxxii, 499). J. Edmund Clark was Richardson's science master at Bootham, and deserves credit for his pupil's thorough approach to his task.

Pritchett C. W. , Letter to Observatory, ix (1886), 233–4.

Flammarion C. , op. cit. (ref. 7) 361.

Ibid., 363.

Tarrant K. J. , Letter to Observatory, viii (1885), 333.

Tarrant K. J. , Letter to English mechanic, xlii (1885), 32.

Saxby S. H. , Letter to Observatory, viii (1885), 332.

Whiteley H. M. , ibid., 333.

Flammarion , op. cit. (ref. 7) 364.

Ibid.

Gledhill J. , Letter to Observatory, viii (1885), 330–1.

Prince C. L. , ibid., 331–2.

Trouvelot E. L. , “L'Étoile nouvellement allumée dans la Grande Nébuleuse d'Andromède”, L'astronomie, iv (1885), 403–7, p. 404.

Denning W. F. , Letter to Nature, 17 September 1885 (vol. xxxii, 465–6). Denning also claimed to be able to see the nova by averted vision with the naked eye.

Huggins W. , ibid., 465.

Earl of Rosse, ibid., 437.

Prince C. L. , Letter to Observatory, viii (1885), 335.

de Konkoly N. , ibid., 334.

Reported by Maunder E. W. , op. cit. (ref. 3), 322–3.

Peek C. M. , Letter to English mechanic, xlii (1885), 32.

Reported by Maunder E. W. , op. cit. (ref. 3) 322.

Ingall H. , in English mechanic, xlii (1885), 31.

Reported by Young C. A. , in Sidereal messenger, iv (1885), 282.

The first observer to differentiate the real nucleus from the larger, central ‘lens’ seems to have been John Herschel, who in 1826 described it as “having the appearance of a nipple … of very small diameter (10” or 12”)” ( Herschel J. F. W. , “Observations of the Nebula in the Girdle of Andromeda”, Memoirs of the [Royal] Astronomical Society, ii (1826), 495–7, p. 496).

For a modern discussion of observations of the M 31 nucleus, see Ashbrook J. , “The Nucleus of the Andromeda Nebula”, Sky and telescope, xxxv (1968), 97–98.

Roberts I. , Journal of the Liverpool Astronomical Society, iv (1885), 1.

Ibid., 2.

Common, a prominent engineer, made two 36in. diameter mirrors. One of these was sold to Edward Crossley at Bemerside, Halifax, who later presented it to Lick Observatory. In the hands of H. D. Curtis, the ‘Crossley’ reflector made great contributions to the study of the nebulae, and in a modern mounting is still in use at Lick Observatory. (See King H. C. , The history of the telescope (London, 1955), 278, and Studies of the nebulae (Lick Publications, xiii, Berkeley, 1918)).

Common A. A. , Letter to Nature, 1 October 1885 (vol. xxxii, 522–3).

Trouvelot E. L. , op. cit. (ref. 21) 404.

Even with present day techniques, the spectra of supernovae present many problems of interpretation. Although more than 250 supernovae have been detected in external galaxies since 1885, none has attained the brilliance of S And. The last such event to be visible in the Galaxy was ‘Kepler's Star’ of 1604. (See Zwicky F. , “Supernovae”, Handbuch der Physik, li (1958), 766–85, and Anderson S. A. , Quarterly journal of the Webb Society, no. 23 (1976)).

Huggins W. , op. cit. (ref. 23).

Earl of Rosse , op. cit. (ref. 24).

Backhouse T. W. , “Nebula in Andromeda and Nova, 1885”, Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, xlviii (1888), 108–10, p. 110.

The most notable of these was that of Sir Norman Lockyer; see the discussion in Observatory, xii (1889), 97–98, and Lockyer J. N. , The meteoric hypothesis (London, 1890), 380.

Monck W. H. S. , Letter to Observatory, viii (1885), 335–6.

Ranyard A. C. , “The Great Nebula in Andromeda”, Knowledge, xii (1889), 75–77, p. 77.

Clerke , The system of the stars (ref. 8), 369–70.

Flammarion C. , op. cit. (ref. 7), 366–7.

Its position today reveals a faint radio source.

Hall Asaph , “Nova Andromedae”, American journal of science, xxxi (1886), 301–4; see also Observatory, ix (1886), 204.

Gaposchkin S. , “The Elusive Maximum of S Andromedae”, Sky and telescope, xxi (1961), 326–7.

It was another 25 years before the photo-electric photometer became available.

See Zwicky F. , op. cit. (ref. 39).