Paper, 'On the corona of the Sun' by William Huggins

Description

Huggins writes: 'The Sun is the only star the corona of which we have been able to observe, for all other stars are too distant to give true images in the telescope. If the Sun were removed to a distance equal to that of the nearest star, its disk would subtend less than the one-hundredth of a second of arc. We have also to consider the small relative brightness of the corona, the light from which has been estimated at different times to be from 1/100000 to about the 1/400000 part of the Sun’s light. It is, indeed, possible that stars which have a higher temperature than our sun, are surrounded by coronae of greater extent and brightness.' Presented as the Bakerian Lecture for 1885.

Annotations in pencil and ink. Includes two epigraphs in Greek from Philostratus' Life of Apollonius and Plutarch's Moralia.

The Bakerian Medal and Lecture is the Royal Society's premier lecture in physical sciences. The lectureship was established through a bequest by Henry Baker of £100 for 'an oration or discourse on such part of natural history or experimental philosophy, at such time and in such manner as the President and Council of the Society for the time being shall please to order and appoint'. The lectureship has been awarded annually since 1775.

Subject: Astronomy

Received and read 11 June 1885.

A version of this paper was published in volume 39 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society as 'The Bakerian lecture.―On the corona of the Sun'.

Reference number

PP/7/4

Earliest possible date

1885

Physical description

Ink and graphite pencil on paper

Page extent

65 pages

Format

Manuscript
Typescript