Abstract
THE COMPANION OF ALGOL.—There are grounds for suspecting that the light of the small star about 80″ distant from Algol in the S.P. quadrant is also variable. Schröter in his letter to Bode, wherein he first drew attention to this object, mentions that he detected it with a 7-feet reflector on October 12, 1787, and although small it was distinctly seen. Soon afterwards he estimated its distance from Algol at 1′ 30″. On April 9, 1788, the star was not to be found, and he therefore concluded that it must be variable. In 1792, when he was in possession of a 13-feet reflector, which he describes as the most powerful instrument then available in Germany, he re-examined the vicinity of Algol, and on March 9 saw the companion much brighter than before, and compares its distinctness in the larger telescope with its faintness in the smaller one with which he had discovered it. But on April 5, in a state of atmosphere at least as favourable as on March 9, with the same instrument and magnifying power, not the slightest trace of the companion could be perceived; on increasing the power to 370, with the utmost straining of the eye, the faintest glimmering was now and then suspected in its position. Schroter then, in this second communication to Bode, expresses himself more confidently as to the variability of the small star.
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Our Astronomical Column . Nature 19, 365–366 (1879). https://doi.org/10.1038/019365c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/019365c0