Piazzi Smyth liked to be at the frontiers of his science and he rapidly embraced the world of Spectroscopy. He experimented with the spectra of phenomena such as the Aurora and, as shown here, the Zodiacal Light.
The image is one drawn by Piazzi Smyth himself in Palermo, Italy where he went to see this phenomenon. He states that he exaggerated the brightness of the phenomenon in his painting.
In other experiments he made significant advances in the spectrum of the Sun and for this work the Royal Society of Edinburgh awarded him their Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane Prize.
Dr Bruce Vickery