The New Star in Perseus. 



119 



" The New Star in Perseus. — Preliminary Note." By Sir Norman 

 Lockyer, K.C.B., F.E.S. Eeceived and Eead February 28, 

 1901. 



Dr. Copeland was kind enough to inform me by telegram on the 

 afternoon of February 22, of the discovery by Dr. Anderson of a new 

 star in the Milky Way in Perseus on the early morning of that day. 

 It was stated that its position was E.A. 3 h 24 m 25 s and Declination 

 + 43° 34', its magnitude 2*7, and colour of a bluish-white. Later in 

 the evening this information was corroborated by another telegram 

 from the " Centralstelle " at Kiel. 



Owing to cloudy weather, no photographs could be obtained at 

 Kensington until the evening of the 25th. Momentary glimpses of 

 the star on the evening of the 22nd, between the hours of 6 and 

 7.30 p.m., indicated that the Nova had considerably brightened since 

 the time of its discovery, as it was estimated as a little brighter than a 

 1st magnitude star; no satisfactory observations of the spectrum could 

 be made. Another glimpse on the early morning (1.30 a.m.) of Monday 

 (25th) showed that the star was still of about the 1st magnitude. 



Professor Pickering reports that the Nova was dimmer than an 

 11th magnitude star on February 19. On the 23rd it was as bright as 

 Capella. The star, therefore, was then at least 10,000 times brighter 

 than it was four days previously, and ranks as the brightest new star 

 recorded since that which appeared in the year 1604. 



Since the 25th the brightness has diminished slightly, and on the 

 evening of the 27th was estimated between the 1st and 2nd magnitude 

 (1*7). If this reduction of brilliancy continues at the same rate, the 

 new star will evidently be shorter lived than those to which it has 

 most closely approximated in luminous intensity at the maximum, and 

 less time will be available for studying the spectral changes which may 

 be anticipated. I may state that Tycho's Nova (1572) was visible for 

 nearly 1J years, and Kepler's (1604) for about the same period. 



It is interestiug to note that the star was described by Dr. Anderson 

 as being of a bluish-white colour at the time of discovery. Since it 

 has diminished in brightness this has changed, and on the night of 

 February 27, a reddish tinge was observed. 



The sky on Monday evening was by no means free from clouds, 

 but ten very satisfactory photographs were secured with the three 

 instruments in regular use for stellar spectra. Edwards's isochromatie 

 plates were used, as it was considered desirable to secure a record of 

 the green part of the spectrum. 



Although there has not been time for a complete discussion of these 

 photographs, it may be stated that the spectrum contains numerous 

 dark lines, several of which are associated with bright bands on the 



VOL. LXVIII. K 



