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Selective Absorption of Light in Interstellar Space

Abstract

THERE is perhaps no subject which has attracted more attention from astronomers during the past decade than that of interstellar absorption. It is of the utmost importance to those who study the structure of the universe to know whether a distant star looks faint because it is faint, or because the light it emits is partly lost on its way to us. The standard Tvay of estimating the distance of a star which is beyond trigonometrical reach is by photometric means: the star's apparent brightness m is compared with its absolute brightness M, and its distance r derived from the relation

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HUNTER, A. Selective Absorption of Light in Interstellar Space. Nature 147, 152–153 (1941). https://doi.org/10.1038/147152a0

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