1866. | in a Star in Corona Borealis. 879 
The next evening, the 13th, the star was seen by M. Courbe- 
baisse, at Rochefort, France. On the 11th, this observer had not 
noticed any new star in the Crown. On the 14th it was observed 
in Canada by Mr. W. Barker. It was then of the 3rd magnitude. 
The star was again independently discovered by Mr. Baxendell, on 
the 15th, at Manchester. 
On the 16th, the writer received a letter from Mr. Baxendell, 
in which he describes the star as “about somewhat less than a 
degree distant from ¢ Coronz, in a south-easterly direction, and last 
night was fully equal in brilliancy to £ Serpentis, or y Herculis, 
both stars of about the 3rd magnitude.” 
On the same evening, the 16th, the writer and Dr. W. A. 
Miller commenced a prismatic examination of its light. 
The star was then below the third magnitude, but brighter 
than < Coron. In the telescope it was surrounded with a faint 
nebulous haze, extending to a considerable distance, and gradually 
fading away at the boundary. A comparative examination of 
neighbouring stars showed that this nebulosity really existed about 
the star. On the 17th, this nebulosity was suspected only ; on the 
19th and 21st, it was not seen. 
When the spectroscope was placed on the telescope, the light of 
this new star formed a spectrum unlike that of any celestial body 
hitherto examined by them. The light of the star is compound, 
and has emanated from two different sources. Each light forms 
its own spectrum. In the instrument these spectra appear super- 
posed. The principal spectrum is analogous to that of the sun, 
and is evidently formed by the light of an incandescent solid or 
liquid photosphere, which has suffered absorption by the vapours 
of an envelope cooler than itself. The second spectrum consists of 
a few bright lines, which indicate that the hght represented by it 
was emitted by matter in the state of luminous gas. These spectra 
are represented with considerable approximative accuracy in the 
following diagram. 
Spectrum of absorption, and spectrum of bright lines forming the compound spectrum of a new star 
near to e Corone Borcalis, 
From this diagram the reader will notice-at the red end of the 
spectrum a little more refrangible than Fraunhofer’s C, two strong 
