| Diameter | Field | Wolf’s Field in Perseus | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | II | III | ||
| 5 ″ | 3 | |||
| 10 | 7 | 38 | 5 | 34 |
| 15 | 27 | 67 | 12 | 52 |
| 20 | 25 | 42 | 18 | 26 |
| 25 | 6 | 19 | 10 | 6 |
| 30 | 5 | 9 | 4 | 2 |
| 35 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 40 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 2 |
| 45 | 1 | 3 | 3 | |
| 50 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 60 | 3 | |||
| 90 | 1 | |||
Exposures of two hours gave all of the nebulae recorded. Five-hour exposures brightened the images somewhat, but revealed no new ones. The conclusion would seem to be that the limits of the clusters had been reached. This, however, is uncertain, for the longer exposures gave relatively few stars which were not on the plates of shorter exposures. As a matter of fact, the 24-inch reflector at this altitude seems to have a maximum working efficiency at slightly over two hours. Save for very exceptionally clear and steady skies, the longer exposures add much labor for negligibly greater results. The diameters of the faintest stars near the center of the field, with the full aperture, fine sky, and an hour’s exposure, which are of about magnitude 17.5, are about 2.0″. Longer exposures are apparently subject to change of focus, differential refraction, and other disturbances which tend to increase the size of the images unduly, and hence to spread the total light over a larger area. The result is that the value of p in the reciprocity equation Itᵖ = iTᵖ does not remain constant throughout the exposure, but varies, beyond a certain value of T, depending on the adjustments of the telescope, the position of the field, and the condition of the sky. However, the effect should be more noticeable on the stars than on nebulae which present surfaces.
Fig. 1.—Distribution of size in Wolf’s
Nebel Listen Nos. 3 to 14
I have plotted Wolf’s lists of nebulae, Nos. 3-14, in the same manner, converting estimates of size into seconds of arc according to his table. These lists were made from plates taken with the 16-inch (41 cm) Bruce camera, of focal length 203 cm, of the Heidelberg Observatory. The curves ([Fig. 1]) take the same form, save that for most the maximum frequency is for diameters between 20″ and 25″. One of his lists was made from plates taken with the 30-inch reflector at Königstuhl. It is of a field in Perseus, α = 3ᵸ12ᵐ, δ = +41° 6′. Diameters of the 124 Wolf nebulae and five others were measured from plates taken with the Yerkes 24-inch reflector. This plot ([Fig. 2]) gives a maximum for diameters around 15″, and the longer focus of Wolf’s 30-inch apparently does not add to the number of small nebulae distinguishable on the plates made with the shorter telescope.
TABLE V
Wolf’s Nebel Listen Nos. 3-14
| List | Diameter | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4″ | 6″ | 15″ | 25″ | 60″ | 200″ | >200″ | |
| 3 | 205 | 322 | 291 | 280 | 195 | 36 | 6 |
| 4 | 1 | 69 | 153 | 19 | 6 | 1 | |
| 5 | 6 | 99 | 106 | 23 | 1 | 3 | |
| 6 | 14 | 114 | 72 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |
| 7 | 9 | 103 | 156 | 35 | 4 | 12 | |
| 8 | 80 | 372 | 243 | 34 | 3 | ||
| 9 | 48 | 174 | 160 | 19 | |||
| 10 | 3 | 31 | 26 | 2 | |||
| 11 | 13 | 60 | 19 | 1 | |||
| 12 | 14 | 61 | 162 | 27 | 10 | ||
| 13 | 20 | 61 | 26 | 3 | |||
| 14 | 3 | 160 | 296 | 43 | 1 | 1 | |
The evidence, while far from conclusive, appears to indicate the existence of actual clusters of these small nebulae in the sky. If this is true, it is natural to suppose them physically connected, as is the case in star-clusters. It is not possible to form a conception of this state of affairs until some idea of their distance is acquired. Suppose them to be extra-sidereal and perhaps we see clusters of galaxies; suppose them within our system, their nature becomes a mystery.
