Abstract
During the first half of the twentieth century, while theorists were working to understand the structure and thermal properties of white dwarfs, observers began to search for more of these peculiar stars. Were they rare or commonplace? What were their observable properties?
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Notes
- 1.
A biographical sketch of Willem J. Luyten is given in “The Bruce Medalists,” http://www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu/brucemedalists/luyten/index.html, accessed 26 April 2012.
- 2.
The history of Lick Observatory is summarized by Misch, A., and Stone, R. 1998, “Building the Observatory, http://collections.ucolick.org/archives_on_line/bldg_the_obs.html, accessed 22 May 2012.
- 3.
Luyten’s move to the Harvard College Observatory and his loss of an eye in a tennis accident are noted in http://www.nndb.com/people/232/000170719/, accessed 26 April 2012.
- 4.
Luyten (1971), p. 4.
- 5.
Saxon, Wolfgang 1994, “Willem J. Luyten, 95, Expert on Stellar Motions,” http://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/26/obituaries/willem-j-luyten-expert-on-stellarr-motion … ” accessed 26 April 2012.
- 6.
Holberg (2007), p. 119.
- 7.
Giclas, H. L. in Luyten (1971), p. 24, “The Identification of White Dwarf Suspects in the Lowell Proper Motion Stars.”
- 8.
The origin of the Tonanzintla Observatory is described by Silvia Torres-Peimbert in DeVorkin (1999), p. 74, “A Century of Astronomy in Mexico: Collaboration with American Astronomers.”
- 9.
Light shining on such a device changes its electrical conductivity.
- 10.
Green (1977); see also Green, R. F., Schmidt, M., and Liebert, J. W. 1986, Astrophys. J. Suppl., 61, 305, “The Palomar-Green Catalog of Ultraviolet-Excess Objects.”
- 11.
Demers, S. et al. 1986, Astron. J., 92, 878, “The Montreal-Cambridge Survey of Southern Subluminous Stars;” see also Lamontagne, R., et al., Astron. J., 119, 241, “The Montreal-Cambridge-Tololo Survey of Southern Subluminous Blue Stars: The South Galactic Cap.”
- 12.
Stobie et al. in Warner (1992), p. 87, “The Edinburgh-Cape Blue Object Survey.”
- 13.
Hagen, H.-J., et al. 1995, Astron. & Astrophys. Suppl., 111, 195, “The Hamburg Quasar Survey. I. Schmidt Observations and Plate Digitization..
- 14.
Wisotzki, L., et al. 1996, Astron. & Astrophys. Suppl., 115, 227, “The Hamburg / ESO Survey for Bright Quasars. I. Survey Design and Candidate Selection Procedures.”
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“Integrated Circuits,” http://www.pbs.org/transistor/background/events/icinv.html; accessed 6 May 2014.
- 16.
“Charge-Coupled Device,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge-coupled_device; accessed 23 June 2013.
- 17.
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey is described in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sloan_Digital_Sky_Survey; accessed 19 May 2012; see also Gunn, J. E., and Knapp, G. R., in Soifer (1993), p. 267, “The Sloan Digital Sky Survey.”
References
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Green, R. F. 1977, Ph.D. thesis, Caltech, “A Complete Sample of White Dwarfs, Hot Subdwarfs, and Quasars.”
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Van Horn, H.M. (2015). Stalking the Wild White Dwarf. In: Unlocking the Secrets of White Dwarf Stars. Astronomers' Universe. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09369-7_7
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