Biography
Annie Jump Cannon devised the stellar classification scheme still used today, ordering stars by temperature into the sequence O B A F G K M. Working at Harvard with extraordinary speed and accuracy, she classified the spectra of hundreds of thousands of stars for the Henry Draper Catalogue, turning the chaos of stellar spectra into an ordered system.
Scientific contributions
- Created the Harvard stellar spectral classification (OBAFGKM)
- Classified the spectra of over 350,000 stars
- Led the compilation of the Henry Draper Catalogue
Catalogues
Knowledge connections
- StudiesThe Milky Way
- Part ofModern Astronomy
- Collaborated withEdward Charles Pickering
- IntroducedHenry Draper Catalogue
- IntroducedHarvard Spectral Classification
Sources & references
The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.
- NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.
- BritannicaEncyclopaedia Britannica
General reference for the history of astronomy, biographies, and cultural context.