Lick Observatory Photographic Supernova Spectra

Abstract

Seventy‐eight photographic spectra of 18 bright supernovae that were obtained by various observers at the Lick Observatory between 1937 and 1971 are presented and briefly discussed. Microphotometer transmission tracings of the photographic plates have been digitized and plotted on a common scale with a linear wavelength axis. The spectra were prismatic, with a nonlinear dispersion, in their original form. These spectra are useful for classification purposes and for comparative studies of the blueshifts of absorption features.