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Henry Draper Catalogue

The Henry Draper Catalogue (HD) is an astronomical star
catalogue published between 1918 and 1924, giving spectroscopic Henry Draper Catalogue
classifications for 225,300 stars; it was later expanded by the Alternative names The Henry
Henry Draper Extension (HDE), published between 1925 and Draper
1936, which gave classifications for 46,850 more stars, and by the Catalogue
Henry Draper Extension Charts (HDEC), published from 1937
Survey type astronomical
to 1949 in the form of charts, which gave classifications for 86,933
more stars. In all, 359,083 stars were classified as of August catalog 
2017.[1][2] Named after Henry Draper 

The HD catalogue is named after Henry Draper, an amateur

astronomer, and covers the entire sky almost completely down to an Published 1918 
apparent photographic magnitude of about 9; the extensions added
fainter stars in certain areas of the sky.[3] The construction of the Henry Draper Catalogue was part of a
pioneering effort to classify stellar spectra, and its catalogue numbers are commonly used as a way of
identifying stars.[4][5]

Contents
History
Availability and usage
References
External links

History
The origin of the Henry Draper Catalogue dates back to the earliest photographic studies of stellar
spectra. Henry Draper made the first photograph of a star's spectrum showing distinct spectral lines
when he photographed Vega in 1872. He took over a hundred more photographs of stellar spectra before
his death in 1882. In 1885, Edward Pickering began to supervise photographic spectroscopy at Harvard
College Observatory, using the objective prism method. In 1886, Draper's widow, Mary Anne Palmer
Draper, became interested in Pickering's research and agreed to fund it under the name Henry Draper
Memorial.[6][7] Pickering and his coworkers then began to take an objective-prism survey of the sky and
to classify the resulting spectra.[8]

A first result of this work was the Draper Catalogue of Stellar Spectra, published in 1890. This catalogue
contained spectroscopic classifications for 10,351 stars, mostly north of declination −25°. Most of the
classification was done by Williamina Fleming.[10] The classification scheme used was to subdivide the
previously used Secchi classes (I to IV) into more specific classes, given letters from A to N. Also, the
letter O was used for stars whose spectra consisted mainly of bright lines, the letter P for planetary
nebulae, and the letter Q for spectra not fitting into any of the classes A through P. No star of type N
appeared in the catalogue, and the only star of type O was the Wolf–Rayet star HR 2583.[9]
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Antonia Maury and Pickering published a

more detailed study of the spectra of bright Classifications in the Draper Catalogue of Stellar Spectra[9]
stars in the northern hemisphere in 1897.[11] Secchi Draper Comment
Maury used classifications numbered from I to
I A, B, C, D Hydrogen lines dominant.
XXII; groups I to XX corresponded to
subdivisions of the Draper Catalogue types B, II E, F, G, H, I, K, L
A, F, G, K, and M, while XXI and XXII III M
corresponded to the Draper Catalogue types N
and O.[12] She was the first to place B stars in IV N Did not appear in the catalogue.
their current position, prior to A stars, in the — O Wolf–Rayet spectra with bright lines.
spectral classification.[13] — P Planetary nebulae.

In 1890, the Harvard College Observatory — Q Other spectra.

constructed an observation station in
Arequipa, Peru in order to study the sky in the Southern Hemisphere, and a study of bright stars in the
southern hemisphere was published by Annie Jump Cannon and Pickering in 1901.[14][15] Cannon used
the lettered types of the Draper Catalogue of Stellar Spectra, but dropped all letters except O, B, A, F, G,
K, and M, used in that order, as well as P for planetary nebulae and Q for some peculiar spectra. She also
used types such as B5A for stars halfway between types B and A, F2G for stars one-fifth of the way from F
to G, and so forth.[16]

Between 1910 and 1915, new discoveries increased interest in stellar classification, and work on the
Henry Draper Catalogue itself started in 1911. From 1912 to 1915, Cannon and her coworkers classified
spectra at the rate of approximately 5,000 per month.[17] The catalogue was published in 9 volumes of
the Annals of Harvard College Observatory between 1918 and 1924. It contains rough positions,
magnitudes, spectral classifications, and, where possible, cross-references to the Durchmusterung
catalogs for 225,300 stars.[18] The classification scheme used was similar to that used in Cannon's 1901
work, except that types such as B, A, B5A, F2G, and so on, had been changed to B0, A0, B5, F2, and so
on. As well as the classes O through M, P was used for nebulae and R and N for carbon stars.[19]

Pickering died on February 3, 1919, leaving 6 volumes to be overseen by Cannon.[20] Cannon found
spectral classifications for 46,850 fainter stars in selected regions of the sky in the Henry Draper
Extension, published in six parts between 1925 and 1936.[2][21] She continued classifying stars until her
death in 1941. Most of these classifications were published in 1949 in the Henry Draper Extension
Charts (the first portion of these charts was published in 1937.) These charts also contained some
classifications by Margaret Walton Mayall, who supervised the work after Cannon's death.[22][23]

The catalogue and its extensions were the first large-scale attempt to catalogue spectral types of stars,[5]
and its construction led to the Harvard classification scheme of stellar spectra which is still used
today.[24]

Availability and usage

Stars contained in the main portion of the catalogue are of medium magnitude, down to about 9m (about
1
15
as bright as the faintest stars visible with the naked eye). The extensions contain stars as faint as the
11th magnitude selected from certain regions of the sky.[3][25] Stars in the original catalogue are
numbered from 1 to 225300 (prefix HD) and are numbered in order of increasing right ascension for the
epoch 1900.0. Stars in the first extension are numbered from 225301 to 272150 (prefix HDE), and stars
from the extension charts are numbered from 272151 to 359083 (prefix HDEC). However, as the

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numbering is continuous throughout the catalog and its extensions, the prefix HD may be used
regardless as its use produces no ambiguity.[26] Many stars are customarily identified by their HD
numbers.[4]

The Henry Draper Catalogue and the Extension were available from the NASA Astronomical Data
Center as part of their third CD-ROM of astronomical catalogues.[27] Currently, the Catalogue and
Extension are available from the VizieR service of the Centre de Données astronomiques (French for
"Astronomical Data Center") at Strasbourg as catalogue number III/135A.[28] Because of their format,
putting the Henry Draper Extension Charts into a machine-readable format was more difficult, but this
task was eventually completed by 1995 by Nesterov, Röser and their coworkers, and the charts are now
available at VizieR as catalogue number III/182.[1]

References
1. Nesterov, V. V.; Kuzmin, A. V.; Ashimbaeva, N. T.; Volchkov, A. A.; Röser, S.; Bastian, U. (1995).
"The Henry Draper Extension Charts: A catalogue of accurate positions, proper motions, magnitudes
and spectral types of 86933 stars". Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series. 110: 367.
Bibcode:1995A&AS..110..367N (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1995A&AS..110..367N). CDS ID
III/182 (http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/Cat?III/182).
2. Cannon, Annie. J. (1936). "The Henry Draper extension". Annals of Harvard College Observatory.
100: 1. Bibcode:1936AnHar.100....1C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1936AnHar.100....1C).
3. "HD (S0): HENRY DRAPER star catalog, edition 1985 (19930406)" (https://web.archive.org/web/200
80509145504/http://www.willbell.com/software/hypersky/hd.htm). HyperSky. Willmann-Bell, Inc.
1996. Archived from the original (http://www.willbell.com/software/hypersky/hd.htm) on May 9, 2008.
4. Webb, Stephen (1999). Measuring the Universe: The Cosmological Distance Ladder. Springer.
p. 327. ISBN 978-1-85233-106-1.
5. Sparke, Linda S.; Gallagher, John S., III (2007). Galaxies in the Universe: An Introduction (2nd ed.).
Cambridge University Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-521-85593-8.
6. Barker, George F. (1887). "On the Henry Draper Memorial Photographs of Stellar Spectra" (https://bo
oks.google.com/books?id=KcAAAAAAYAAJ). Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society.
24: 166–172.
7. Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey (1986). Women in Science: Antiquity Through the Nineteenth Century: a
Biographical Dictionary with Annotated Bibliography (https://archive.org/details/womeninscience00m
ari). MIT Press. p. 75 (https://archive.org/details/womeninscience00mari/page/75). ISBN 978-0-262-
65038-0.
8. Cannon, Annie J. (1915). "The Henry Draper Memorial". Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of
Canada. 9: 203. Bibcode:1915JRASC...9..203C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1915JRASC...9..
203C).
9. Hearnshaw 1986, p. 108; Pickering 1890, p. 2–4
10. Pickering, Edward C. (1890). "The Draper Catalogue of stellar spectra photographed with the 8-inch
Bache telescope as a part of the Henry Draper memorial". Annals of Harvard College Observatory.
27: 1–388. Bibcode:1890AnHar..27....1P (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1890AnHar..27....1P).
See in particular pp. 1–2.
11. Maury, Antonia C.; Pickering, Edward C. (1897). "Spectra of bright stars photographed with the 11-
inch Draper Telescope as part of the Henry Draper Memorial". Annals of Harvard College
Observatory. 28: 1. Bibcode:1897AnHar..28....1M (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1897AnHar..2
8....1M).
12. Maury & Pickering 1897, Table I
13. Hearnshaw 1986, p. 112

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14. Cannon, Annie J.; Pickering, Edward C. (1901). "Spectra of bright southern stars photographed with
the 13-inch Boyden telescope as part of the Henry Draper Memorial". Annals of Harvard College
Observatory. 28: 129. Bibcode:1901AnHar..28..129C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1901AnHar..
28..129C).
15. Hearnshaw 1986, pp. 110–111, 117–118
16. Hearnshaw 1986, pp. 117–119
17. Cannon 1915, pp. 214–215
18. Cannon, Annie J.; Pickering, Edward C. (1918). "The Henry Draper Catalogue". Annals of Harvard
College Observatory.;
hours 0 to 3, 91 (1918), Bibcode: 1918AnHar..91....1C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1918AnHa
r..91....1C/abstract);
hours 4 to 6, 92 (1918), Bibcode: 1918AnHar..92....1C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1918AnHa
r..92....1C/abstract);
hours 7 to 8, 93 (1919), Bibcode: 1919AnHar..93....1C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1919AnHa
r..93....1C/abstract);
hours 9 to 11, 94 (1919), Bibcode: 1919AnHar..94....1C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1919AnH
ar..94....1C/abstract);
hours 12 to 14, 95 (1920), Bibcode: 1920AnHar..95....1C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1920An
Har..95....1C/abstract);
hours 15 to 16, 96 (1921), Bibcode: 1921AnHar..96....1C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1921An
Har..96....1C/abstract);
hours 17 to 18, 97 (1922), Bibcode: 1922AnHar..97....1C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1922An
Har..97....1C/abstract);
hours 19 to 20, 98 (1923), Bibcode: 1923AnHar..98....1C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1923An
Har..98....1C/abstract);
hours 21 to 23, 99 (1924), Bibcode: 1924AnHar..99....1C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1924An
Har..99....1C/abstract).
19. Hearnshaw 1986, pp. 121–122, 128, 133–134; also see Cannon & Pickering 1918, vol. 1, pp. 5–11
20. Hearnshaw, J. B. (1986). The Analysis of Starlight: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Astronomical
Spectroscopy. Cambridge University Press. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-521-25548-6.
21. Cannon, Annie Jump; Shapley, Harlow (1937). "The Henry Draper charts of stellar spectra". Annals
of Harvard College Observatory. 105 (1): 1. Bibcode:1937AnHar.105....1C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.
edu/abs/1937AnHar.105....1C).
22. Cannon & Shapley 1937; Hearnshaw 1986, p. 138
23. Cannon, Annie J.; Mayall, Margaret Walton (1949). "The Henry Draper extension. II". Annals of
Harvard College Observatory. 112: 1. Bibcode:1949AnHar.112....1C (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/a
bs/1949AnHar.112....1C).
24. Schulz, Norbert S. (2005). From Dust to Stars: Studies of the Formation and Early Evolution of Stars.
Springer. p. 13. ISBN 978-3-540-23711-2.
25. Annie Jump Cannon (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/92776/Annie-Jump-Cannon),
article, Encyclopædia Britannica Online, accessed September 12, 2008.
26. See p. 2, Cannon and Shapley 1937 and p. 369, Nesterov et al. 1995.
27. Astronomical Data Center CD-ROM: Selected Astronomical Catalogs, Volume 3 (http://adc.gsfc.nas
a.gov/adc/adccdrom3_doc.html) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20080916100212/http://adc.g
sfc.nasa.gov/adc/adccdrom3_doc.html) 2008-09-16 at the Wayback Machine, Astronomical Data
Center, NASA. Accessed on line September 11, 2008.
28. Henry Draper Catalogue and Extension, A. J. Cannon and E. C. Pickering, CDS ID III/135A (http://cd
sarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/Cat?III/135A).

External links
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The Henry Draper Catalogue and its extensions are available on line free of charge at the VizieR service
of the Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg:

Henry Draper Catalogue and Extension, A. J. Cannon and E. C. Pickering, CDS ID III/135A (http://cd
sarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/Cat?III/135A).
The Henry Draper Extension Charts: A catalogue of accurate positions, proper motions, magnitudes
and spectral types of 86933 stars, V. V. Nesterov, A. V. Kuzmin, N. T. Ashimbaeva, A. A. Volchkov, S.
Roeser, and U. Bastian, CDS ID III/182 (http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/Cat?III/182).

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