Pickering's fracture method

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The Pickeringsche breaking method is a method for determining brightness of stars with the naked eye. This method was developed by the American astronomer Edward Charles Pickering (1846–1919) to determine the brightness of variable stars and is very easy to use.

method

One chooses a star that is a little brighter than the object to be estimated and a star that is a little weaker (the difference in brightness between the two stars should not be too great). This difference in brightness is divided into tenth in thought. The comparison star is classified in this virtual scale.

example

Star A is 3 parts brighter than the comparison star. It is again 7 parts brighter than the star B. The spelling is A3V7B .

  • Star A: m = 2.8
  • Star B: m = 3.3
  • Difference = 0.5
  • Part size = 0.05

The comparison star is 2.8 plus 3 times 0.05, corresponding to m = 2.95 bright.

With the Argelander's step estimation method by Friedrich Wilhelm August Argelander, there is a somewhat more complex procedure for determining brightness.