HUGGINS, WILLIAM and W.A. MILLER. - HEAVEN AND EARTH BUILT OF THE SAME ELEMENTS.

On the Spectra of some of the Fixed Stars. Received April 28, - Read May 26, 1864. (+ Supplement:) On the Spectra of some of the Nebulae. A Supplement to the Paper "On the Spectra of some of the Fixed Stars." Received September 8, 1864, and printed in continuation of the paper preceding.

(London, Taylor and Francis, 1864). 4to. No wrappers as extracted from "Philosophical Transactions", Vol. 154 - Part II, pp. 413-435 a. pp. 437-444 and 2 lithographed plates.(1 plate showing the spectroscope which could be attached to his eight-innch telescope invented by Huggin's and Miller, the start of stellar spectroscopi, the other plate showing the obtained spectra of the nebulæ Aldebaran and Orionis).

First printing of a historical paper in spectroscopy and cosmology in which the authors shows, by analysing the spectrae of nebulae, of stars, of planets, of comets, and of the sun, that they are all built of the same elements as the earth. Thus was "laid to rest the twenty-one-century notion of Aristotle's that the heavens were composed of a unique substance not found on the earth."(Asimov). They also shows that there is a considerable diversity of chemical composition among the stars.

In this paper Huggins also describes his discovery, by spectroscopy, that a number of nebulae are luminous gas clouds.

"William Huggins (1824-1910), English astronomer, a pioneer in spectroscopy and photography. He examined spectroscopically the chemical constitution of stars and comets, and the gaseous nature of planetary and diffuse nebulae; he applied the Doppler Principle to the measurement of the radial velocities of stars, and published an atlas of representative stellar spectra" (Ripley: Source Book in Astronomy).

Order-nr.: 42260