05.10.1900 -12.07.1979
On the 7th of December, 2009 there will be 30 years as this extraordinary lady left this world. But frankly speaking her life in Astrophysics has not begun yet. A great toiler an honest scientist, a pioneer in one of the most complicated and disputed fields of Astrophysics, she has the right for everlasting remembrance about herself in the history of the World Science. Moreover she hasn’t become the cult of personality in American Astrophysics. This role was given to E. Hubble. The reason of this is her extraordinary modesty and unchanging accentuation of her doubts apropos of obtained results. She was very young, 25 years old all in all almost an infant when she defended a thesis and with it all she obtained stunning results of the most complicated researches.
Even much time later in her book “The Birth and Star Development” she says: “I can depict the history of Stars only in the way I imagine it I could understand some of the pictures not quite correctly. May be I’m lock of some critical situations. But despite the huge size of the stage (scene) and slowness of actions development, in my opinion I caught the main thread of History. I tried to keep the reality and to avoid the influence of non-objective School of Scientists. The last one relies upon the theory but not the facts of observations.”
Alisa Totochava, in her book “The Daughter of Uranus” tells us about the life and scientific work of our heroine. Thank her very much from Astronomy History. I’ll try not to repeat Alisa and to tell what has been done by Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkina in Astrophysics. It had to turn over all Astrophysics foundations but she was not believed in everything either in 1925 when she defended a thesis, either even now.
Outwardly every thing was O.K. The main accent was directed to the type with of spectral temperature of the star atmosphere advantage and hydrogen composition. This advantage is being kept up to the end of star life. She believed that probably only one tenth of all hydrogen atoms can be used for star feeding as the reasons are still not understandable and depend upon mysterious details of the star inner structure. It was adopted bat not at once, supported by Astrophysics Masters and nowadays it mustn’t cause anybody’s doubts.
She laid of star spectrum classification. Later classification system of MK & MKK, but nobody remembered about Payne-Gaposchkina in this field.
But there were some other conclusions and nowadays they prefer not to recollect either. The most important conclusion of hers is the conclusion about the Universe chemical composition. The book “The Stars Birth & Development” about chemical composition of the Universe says “Going to the root of knowledge of Physics spectrum in makes it possible not only to identify atoms being over the Sun surface but to count there. As we were able to find out the Sun mainly consists of hydrogen. The next in order is the second easiest element Helium, while the composition of heavier, more complicated elements, with some exception gradually dåñreases in order of their structure complexity.
Such chemical composition is typical not only for the Sun, for the whole if is typical only for the Universe, not for rarefied stars but in interstar gas and dust in interstellar space. Truly speaking in some stars one can meet diffractions from this comdeflections differences despite position (and considerable may be of great importance) but common homogeneity strikes everyone and it is difficult to indicate for sure any other cosmic body where the main component wouldn’t be hydrogen. And then there is an analogous determination of its atmosphere heterogeneity concerning the solar spectrum. The temperature stratum in the Solar atmosphere isn’t an exclusive phenomenon. At can be observed in other stars, while some of them have considerably greater difference. At we were not sure the Sun is the sole star, its spectrum diversity could cause any doubt in it; actually the spectrum of some stars is so complicated as if they consist of some bodies. You don’t believe if. All modern Astrophysics is stuffed with works devoted to determination of chemical composition of different kinds of stars. They “found” the stars with plenty and deficiency of different element and even without hydrogen, they were called Black gaps. Mathematicians even tried to calculate the explosion of Iron star but they frankly confessed they failed. Nowadays the conclusions of star atmosphere chemical composition are. Simply, if in spectrum of star absorption the lines of metals are intensified it means the star is metallic, if the lines of metals are weakened it star atmosphere are in deficiency. Obliging pattern will confirmit one can use numbers because efficacious temperature and oscillator power according to one’s own distention. Ph.D Payne-Gaposhkina explains the situation on the pattern of intensified lines of ionizated calcium in spectrums of Solar spots in such a way: “it can be explained with the difference in characteristics of hydrogen and calcium atoms (calcium ionization potential is considerably lower then in hydrogen. At the Sun temperature practically all calcium atoms are able to emit the light while hydrogen atoms are more persistent; at the temperature of 6000 K their capacity to illuminate is million times less then in calcium atoms. Hydrogen atoms meet ten thousand times oftener than calcium atom, but lines intensity formed with them in Solar spectrum is a hundred times less of calcium lines intensity. In every specific case of anomalous intensity of any absorbation line one should analyze the structure of spectrum forming layer concretely it has nothing to do with chemical composition. From above mentioned by Payne-Gaposchkina we come to conclusion “that the substance passed through “furnace” as an integral star part has the same characteristics and chemical composition as the substance that has never been in stars. It is confirmed by quantitave calculations. According to its atomic composition the interstar gas can be typical pattern of primary substance the stars were built from it”.
But to great sorrow this conclusion wasn’t taken into consideration.
As a result Astrophysics, determing the chemical composition of star atmospheres got bogged down in labyrinth, and sees the only way out of in black gap.
The works of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkina and her assistant and a spouse Sergei Gaposhkin are of great interest in the field of Cepheid’s exploration situated in Grand and Small Magellan’s clouds. They have an interesting supposition about Cepheids transition into the stage of stars, type RR Lyre. It is quite real as RR Lyre in its true minimum are very close to cepheids spectral class according to (F6-F8).
And some cepheids U Sgr, for example, one of the components has spectral class A3.2 in the brightness maximum,if is close to RR Lyre. The details can be watched at the same sight. I was reproached that A3.2 is only one point all in all. I would like to accurate it was obtained according to the curve of growth, containing 40 lines, thus if isn’t a casual number.
At this evolutionary stage the Cepheid nucleus has rather thick helium cover bat it can’t keep accumulating energy and periodical discards of star hot substance from the depth begin. The works of Payne-Gaposchkina tell us about such discards many times, they are confirmed by spectrum observations. It brings to cover destruction and discards of star substance begin to repeat oftener. Pulsation period becomes less. Finally there may be the Planetary nebula. According to the age principle these events are on one straight line.
Payne-Gaposchkina has a very interesting information for that one who is searching for block matter and black energy. She writes: “Interstellar substance in area weighs practically the same as stars. Haze and stars form a large system and their interaction controls the development of this system. For some reason S.B. Pickelner in his book “Physics of Interstellar Medium” believes that it isn’t more than 8% in Galaxies. Probably it is not enough for nova’s birth.
Then Payne-Gaposchkina has one more very important conclusion “ Yellow light penetrates through the haze (Interstellar Medium) easier than a blue one, and the red light penetrates through the haze easier that a yellow one. The light situated in spectrum beyond the red light and not perceptible by human eye penetrates through the haze even easier.” The light penetrates through absorbing medium easily only in case if its energy is not needed for this medium, that is they are equal energetically. Thus The energy of interstellar medium is equivalent the yellow light that is 6000K. Now let’s come back to Galaxy. It is known that the main mass of stars in Galaxy are yellow pygmean stars. of the Solar type. But if to watch through the yellow any blue giant looks like a yellow pygmean star. Perhaps not everything is so sad in our life. And maybe our Universe is not so old, we simply watch it through yellow glasses. It’s impossible to know what mass is lack in this. By the same reason all Galaxies in limits of our visibility are yellow. And cepheid’s light of spectrum class G0-G2 reach us without obstacles through interstellar clouds and even from other Galaxies.
Payne-Gaposchkina has her certain opinion connected with “red shift”. “The source movement influence on the color and length of the light wave is known us Doppler’s spectroscopic effect “. One shouldn’t mix it wit quite another becoming red, caused with interstellar dust. It can be explained with removal of blue color from unbroken spectrum radiated by the star surface. Doppler’s effect changes the wave’s lengths of absorbation lines in spectrum but it doesn’t influence the stars coaler considerably.
Of course she was not believed. Then The Universe stops to disperse and even with acceleration.
It’s a pity but these works are practically unknown in our country. I strongly hope they’ll find their “treasure hunter” when Astrophysics returns to the Star Sky from the desk.
Summing up this information the Universe is considered to bi a huge sand-pit where the energy plays the role of the sand and all material things (from the smallest up to the greatest ones) are the “suitcases” with the energy.
Ôåíèíà Çåìôèðà Íèêîëàåâíà
êàíäèäàò ôèç-ìàò íàóê, àñòðîôèçèê
FeninaZ@ukr.net
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