Famous Astrophotographers

Name:	William Huggins
Born:	7th February 1824; Cornhill, Middlesex, England.
Died:	12th May 1910; London, England.
Nationality:	England
Fame:	Spectra of Stars, Galaxies and Nebula.First to distinguish between nebulae and galaxies by showing that some (like the Orion Nebula) had pure emission spectra characteristic of gas, while others like the Andromeda Galaxy had spectra characteristic of stars


	Quote:	One important object of this original spectroscopic investigation of the light of the stars and other celestial bodies, namely to discover whether the same chemical elements as those of our earth are present throughout the universe, was most satisfactorily settled in the affirmative.

	Biography:	Sir William Huggins was one of the 19th century’s greatest astronomers and pioneers of Astronomical Spectroscopy. He was born at Cornhill, Middlesex, England on the 24th February 1824, and the son of a wealthy silk mercer. His early education took place at the City of London School, and was continued at home under private masters, who tutored him in Mathematics, the Classics and Modern Languages. His family circumstances enabled him carry out his own scientific research without worrying about working for a living. For a time he remained undecided as to which branch of science he should concentrate on, so he conducted extensive experiments in a number of areas, including chemistry, physics and biology. After much thought he finally decided on Astronomy, a decision which was to dictate the rest of his life but also influenced many others as well. In 1856 he moved to number 90 Upper Tulse Hill, South London with his parents. It was here that he constructed his own Observatory, at first equipping it with a modest 5” Refractor, and later with an 8” Refractor which he had purchased from his friend the Reverend W.M. Dawes for £200. At first he contented himself with doing transit observations, observing planetary markings and the ordinary astronomical work that amateurs typically did with telescopes of size possessed by Huggins. He quickly became dissatisfied and wanted to carry out his own research. The opportunity came when he read of the pioneering work done by Bunsen and Kirchhoff on the spectra of the Sun, which concluded that the spectra shown, was an indication of the chemical elements of which it was made up of. Huggins was determined to apply it to the stars and nebulae. In 1863 published a paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London – ‘On the Lines in the Spectra of some Fixed Stars’ followed by papers on the spectra of individual stars, which showed that each star exhibits a sample of the same lines visible in the Solar Spectrum. This work was a great step towards the conclusion that the same chemical elements are the building blocks of everything in the universe. On August 29th 1864, Huggins turned his spectroscope towards the Cat’s Eye Nebula (NGC 6543), a bright Planetary nebula in the constellation of Draco, expecting to see a series of lines, indicative that the nebula was composed of individual stars. To his surprise he saw but a single bright emission line, and concluded that the nebula was purely gaseous. At that time it was believed by many that all ‘nebula’ given a telescope of sufficient size could be resolved into individual stars. In 1867 he used spectroscopy to measure the radial velocity of Sirius, using the Doppler Shift in the wavelength of the Hydrogen ‘F’ Line. He obtained a radial velocity for Sirius of +47 km/s (away from us); compared to today’s estimate of -7.6 km/s (towards us). It was not until the work of Hermann Vogel in the 1880s that accurate values for stellar motions were obtained. Huggins had been assisted in his early work by a neighbour, the chemist Dr. William Allen Miller, however in 1875 that was to change. On the 8th September 1875 William Huggins married Mary Lindsay Murray of Dublin, a capable astronomer in her own right. For the rest of his life Mary ably assisted her husband in all his work, organizing his papers and introducing him to photography. Up until that time he had only made sketches of spectra, but from 1875 onwards photography was used in his observations and to present his findings. The first paper devoted solely to spectral photography done at Tulse Hill appeared in the Proceedings of the Royal Society in December 1876, with William Huggins as the author. For purposes of priority, Huggins prefaced the paper with the statement: "In the year 1863 Dr. Miller and myself obtained the photograph of the spectrum of Sirius”. This was a tantalizing statement, if true meant that the first photograph of stellar spectra was done not by Henry Draper in 1872, but by Huggins and Miller nine years earlier. Unfortunately, neither the photograph, nor any other record has survived. During the 1880’s the Hugginses’ work concentrated on obtaining photographic spectra of nebulae and in particular the Great Orion nebula, M42. In 1882 Huggins succeeded in obtaining the first photograph of the spectra of a nebula, that of M42. In 1889 Huggins published a photographic atlas of the spectra of stars – entitled ‘An Atlas of Representative Stellar Spectra from 4870 Angstroms to 3300 Angstroms’. Sir William Huggins received many awards and honours during his lifetime; the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1867 jointly with William Allen Miller in 1885; Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1883); Copley Medal (1898) of the Royal Society of which was President from 1900 to 1905; the Henry Draper Medal (1901 and the Bruce Medal (1904). He was knighted in 1897. His contributions to Science were recognized in space too; the Huggins (lunar crater); the Huggins (Martian crater) and the Asteroid 2635 Huggins were all named after him. He died on the 12th May 1910 at Tulse Hill, London and was buried at Golders Green Cemetery.

	Achievements:	Sir William Huggins was a one of the founders of modern astrophysics. He conducted some of the earliest research into the spectra of stars, and contributed to our knowledge of the physical structure of the universe based on a common set of chemical elements. His work gave important clues as to the physical composition of ‘nebulae’, and enabled the conclusion to be made that certain nebulae are gaseous (e.g. M42) whilst others are made up of individual stars (e.g. M31). Later work carried out by Edwin Hubble proved that many ‘nebulae’ are actually star systems like our own Milky Way and are situated at great distances outside of our Galaxy. There is some evidence to suggest that it was William Huggins (and William Miller) in 1863 and not Henry Draper (in 1872) who were the first to photograph the spectra of a star. No physical proof of this has as yet been found. William Huggins was also the first to successful photograph the spectrum of a nebula (M42) in 1882, and paved the way for future work in this field by the likes of Julius Scheiner. Margaret Huggins was a major influence in her husband’s work, and recent research points to her being much more than just an assistant, but an equal partner in much of the spectroscopic research carried out at the Tulse Hill Observatory. In particular it was Margaret who encouraged her husband to make greater use of Photography in his work, and it is almost certain that she possessed greater skill and knowledge in this area than her husband did. When you image a Deep Sky Object, whether it an Emission Nebula, Planetary Nebula, Globular Cluster or a Galaxy, think of William Huggins (and Margaret Huggins). For it they who helped determine what these wonderful objects truly are.



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