Sidereal chromatics

Bob Marriott

W.H. Steavenson once told a tale of how he was approached at a meeting by an enthusiastic beginner who wanted to tell him about his observations. He was obviously a beginner, Steavenson said, because he spoke about the ‘wonderful colours’ he could see through his telescope. However, instrument defects aside, there is a great deal of colour in stars, although these days the descriptions seem to be limited to spectral types. F.G.W. Struve’s colour olivaceasubrubicundae has yet to be surpassed; but the doyen of star colour description was W.H. Smyth, who combined the skills of observing (with a 5.9-inch Tulley refractor) and linguistic fecundity to produce one of the most eloquently written books on astronomy ever produced – A Cycle of Celestial Objects, published in 1844. The following is a selection of colour descriptions from the second volume of this work, the Bedford Catalogue, with the frontispiece of the enlarged second edition of 1881, edited by George F. Chambers.

White Pale white Dull white Fine white Lucid white Very white Bright white Brilliant white Intense white Pearl Silvery-white Creamy-white Yellowish-white Greenish-white Bluish-white Flushed white Flushed Ruddy Reddish

Red Rose Pale rose Pale red Dull red Plum Dusky red Garnet Pale garnet Grape red Golden red Lurid Scarlet Cherry red Blood Fiery red Orange Pale orange Light orange

Bright orange Orange–yellow Ruddy yellow Fawn Straw Pale straw Cream–yellow Yellowish Yellow Pale yellow Faint yellow Dull yellow Light yellow Bright yellow Pearly yellow Topaz Pale topaz Deep yellow Lucid yellow

Crocus yellow Golden yellow Fine yellow Orpiment Greenish-yellow Greenish Green Pale green Light apple-green Emerald Pale emerald Light emerald Sea green Pale sea green Bluish-green Bluish Blue Pale blue Light blue

Clear blue Lucid blue Sapphire Pale sapphire Sky blue Cerulean Smalt blue Fine blue Intense blue Cobalt Deep blue Livid Dusky blue Indigo Lilac Pale lilac Faint lilac Light lilac Brilliant lilac

Violet Pale violet Amethyst Purplish Purple Pale purple Lucid purple Grey Lucid grey Clear grey Light grey Pale grey Dull grey Dusky grey Dusky Cinereous Ashy Pale Very pale