Spectra Of Planetary Nebulae Research Articles

Royal Astronomical Society's Awards

THE gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society has been awarded to Dr. William Hammond Wright, director of the Lick Observatory, Mount Hamilton, California,, for his studies of the spectra of gaseous nebulæ and of novae and for his work on the phot'o-graphy of planets in light of different colours. A bronze (‘Jackson-Gwilt’) medal and gift have been awarded to Mr. P. M. Ryves for his observations of variable stars and other astronomical work, and also to Mr. F. J. Hargreaves for his contributions to astronomy. The investigations of Dr. W. H. Wright on the spectra of the gaseous nebulae comprise: (1) measurements of wave-lengths and of intensities of nebular lines ; (2) the study of the nebular nuclei ; (3) the investigation of the distribution of nebular radiations throughout the nebulæ. Dr. Wright was the first to realize the importance in these observations of accurate guiding, without allowing the object to drift along the slit to lengthen the lines, in order to study the spectra of the nuclei and to derive information with regard to the localization of lines ' in some of nebulae. He has recently returned to the study of the spectra of planetary nebulae in the ultraviolet, taking advantage of the extension to shorter wave-lengths made possible by the coating of the 3 6-inch mirror of the Crossley reflector with aluminium. Mr. Ryves has for many years been a most assiduous and accurate observer of variable stars, and has communicated fifteen papers on that subject to the Society. Mr. Hargreaves has rendered important services to astronomy by the design of valuable instrumental accessories. He has devised an electric drive for telescopes which has been very successfully applied to the 28-inch equatorial at Greenwich. He also constructed a “comparison image micrometer” with which he made double-star observations with an accuracy which compared very favourably with that of observations made with the filar micrometer. In addition, he has produced mirrors and other work of high excellence. His contributions to astronomical observation have been chiefly in the delineation of planetary detail, but he has given much attention to astronomical photography.