Discovery
The Italian astronomer Paolo Maffei was one of the pioneers of infrared astronomy. In the 1950s and 60s, in order to obtain high quality images of celestial objects in the very near infrared part of the spectrum (the I-band, 680–880 nm), he used chemically hyper-sensitized standard Eastman emulsions I-N. To achieve the hyper-sensitization he immersed them in 5% ammonia solution for 3–5 minutes. This procedure increased their sensitivity by an order of magnitude. Between 1957 and 1967 Maffei observed many different objects using this technique, including globular clusters and planetary nebulae. Some of those objects were not visible at all on blue light (250–500 nm) sensitive plates.
The galaxy Maffei 1 was discovered on a hyper-sensitized I-N photographic plate exposed on 29 September 1967 with the Schmidt telescope at Asiago Observatory. Maffei found Maffei 1, together with its companion spiral galaxy Maffei 2, while searching for diffuse nebulae and T Tauri stars. The object had an apparent size up to 50″ in the near infrared but was not visible on the corresponding blue light sensitive plate. Its spectrum lacked any emission or absorption lines. Later it was shown to be radio-quiet as well. In 1970 Hyron Spinrad suggested that Maffei 1 is a nearby heavily obscured giant elliptical galaxy. Maffei 1 would be among the ten brightest galaxies in the northern sky if not situated behind the Milky Way.
Due to the its faintness, visual observations of Maffei 1 require a telescope at least 30–35 cm in diameter, high quality sky maps and a very dark sky.
Read more about this topic: Maffei 1
Famous quotes containing the word discovery:
“The discovery of Pennsylvania’s coal and iron was the deathblow to Allaire. The works were moved to Pennsylvania so hurriedly that for years pianos and the larger pieces of furniture stood in the deserted houses.”
—For the State of New Jersey, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Your discovery of the contradiction caused me the greatest surprise and, I would almost say, consternation, since it has shaken the basis on which I intended to build my arithmetic.... It is all the more serious since, with the loss of my rule V, not only the foundations of my arithmetic, but also the sole possible foundations of arithmetic seem to vanish.”
—Gottlob Frege (1848–1925)
“We early arrive at the great discovery that there is one mind common to all individual men: that what is individual is less than what is universal ... that error, vice and disease have their seat in the superficial or individual nature.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)