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6834 TECHNIQUES FOR COACHING PT5_246x189 mm 24/06/2016 11:43 Page i
TECH N IQU ES
FOR COACH I NG
AN D M E NTOR I NG
This is a fully revised and updated second edition of the successful Techniques for Coaching
and Mentoring, also incorporating the best bits of its sister text Further Techniques for
Coaching and Mentoring.
The book presents a comprehensive and critical overview of the wide range of tools
and techniques available to coaches and mentors. With a strong academic underpinning, it
explores a wide range of approaches, and provides techniques both for use with clients and
to support professional development of the coach or mentor. Key features include:
Techniques for Coaching and Mentoring Second Edition is an invaluable resource for
professional coaches and mentors looking to enhance their practice, and for students of
coaching and mentoring.
Natalie Lancer is Director of Higher Education at Immanuel College, UK. She has developed
a coaching programme for undergraduates and has a private coaching practice. She has also
lectured and published on coaching in education, including Getting into Oxford and
Cambridge, 11th Edition.
David Clutterbuck is one of Europe’s most prolific management thinkers and authors. He
is co-founder of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, visiting professor at three
UK universities and practice lead at Coaching and Mentoring International.
The first edition of this book is excellent because it is packed full of interesting and useful
skills, processes and techniques. This second edition has developed and built on this already
excellent book and lifted it in to the ‘essential buy’ category!
Professor Bob Garvey, Faculty Head of Research,
York St John Business School, UK
This is a remarkably useful book. Each of the three sections is valuable in its own right:
Part I clearly explains and informs us about coaching; Part II provides handy techniques to
bolster coaching practice; and Part III addresses some important contemporary issues that
coaches need to consider for their continued professional effectiveness. Highly
recommended.
Dr Elaine Cox, Author and Director of Coaching & Mentoring
Programmes at Oxford Brookes University, UK
This is a fabulously rich and comprehensive work, it will be an invaluable resource for any
coach or mentor – from the seasoned and experienced, to the novice. It covers every aspect
of the coaching and mentoring process. I totally recommend it.
Myles Downey, Author of Enabling Genius – a mindset for the
21st Century and Effective Modern Coaching
Wonderfully written by pioneers of our field. A vast array of coaching techniques with
illustrative examples every step of the way. One of the few coaching books that you’ll need
with you while coaching!
Dr Brian O. Underhill, Founder of CoachSource and author
of Executive Coaching for Results
6834 TECHNIQUES FOR COACHING PT_246x189 mm 02/06/2016 06:00 Page iii
TECH N IQU ES
FOR COACH I NG
AN D M E NTOR I NG
SECOND EDITION
For support material associated with Techniques for Coaching and Mentoring, Second
Edition, please go to www.routledge.com/cw/Lancer
CONTE NTS
PART I: INTRODUCTION 1
1 Introduction 3
3 Contracting 40
4 Rapport building 47
v ■ ■ ■
6834 TECHNIQUES FOR COACHING PT_246x189 mm 02/06/2016 06:00 Page vi
CONTENTS ■ ■ ■ ■
15 Feedback 197
Appendix 319
Bibliography 322
Index 324
■ ■ ■ vi
6834 TECHNIQUES FOR COACHING PT_246x189 mm 02/06/2016 06:00 Page vii
FIG U R ES
vii ■ ■ ■
6834 TECHNIQUES FOR COACHING PT_246x189 mm 02/06/2016 06:00 Page viii
TAB LES
■ ■ ■ viii
6834 TECHNIQUES FOR COACHING PT1_246x189 mm 02/06/2016 13:39 Page ix
ABOUT TH E AUTHORS
ix ■ ■ ■
6834 TECHNIQUES FOR COACHING PT1_246x189 mm 02/06/2016 13:39 Page x
David is a serial entrepreneur, having built and sold two consulting businesses. He now
works with an international network of mentor trainers, Coaching and Mentoring International,
supporting organisations in developing capability in coaching and mentoring. He maintains
a continuous programme of research into mentoring, coaching and leader development.
He is an accomplished and controversial public speaker in high demand around the world.
The broad scope of his work can be seen on his websites: www.davidclutterbuckpartnership.
com and www.coachingandmentoringinternational.org. He likes to practise what he preaches,
setting himself the goal of achieving at least one major learning challenge each year – these
range from sky-diving to becoming a stand-up comic!
There have been many people who have contributed to the thinking behind, and the words
in, this book, and we would like to thank them all. We apologise to any whom we may have
inadvertently omitted in the following list.
We are particularly grateful to:
Anu Ahitan, Julie Allan, Gurbinder Bahra, Caroline Beery, Sue Blow, Peter Bluckert,
Sharon Collins, Tom Cox, Lloyd Denton, Daniel Doherty, Phil Donnison, Joseph Edwards,
Peter English, Richard Field, Ruth Garrett-Harris, Bob Garvey, Terry Gibson, Marion Gillie,
Elizabeth Gordon Duffy, John Groom, Theo Groot, Richard Hale, Dianne Hawken, Sandra
Henson, Gillian Hill, Kate Hopkinson, Kate Howsley, Zulfi Hussein, Barbara Jakob, Maria
■ ■ ■ x
6834 TECHNIQUES FOR COACHING PT_246x189 mm 02/06/2016 06:00 Page xi
Jichara, Kate Kennett, Paula King, Jan Kingsley, Eckard König, Diane Lennan, Gill Lewis, Julian
Lippi, Gladeana McMahon, Jens Maier, Ian Martin, Peter Matthews, Lis Merrick, Eileen
Murphy, Steve O’Shaughannessy, Elaine Patterson, Linda Phipps, Jenny Plaister-Ten, Karen
Price, Amarjeet Rebolo, Megan Reitz, Paul O’Donovan Rossa, Joyce Russell, Dolores Sarayon,
Gil Schwenk, Nicki Seignot, Maíre Shelly, Alan Sieler, Robert Smith, Marlene Spero, Amy
Stabler, Paul Stokes, Jenny Sweeney, Fons Trompenaars, Mike Turner, Mike van Oudtshoorn,
Constance Vieco, Mari Watson and Vivien Whitaker.
xi ■ ■ ■
6834 TECHNIQUES FOR COACHING PT_246x189 mm 02/06/2016 06:00 Page xii
FOR EWOR D
As coaches we watch as our profession grows, develops and transforms into both an activity
and community rich in capability and resource. We are now a hugely diverse group of
individuals who bring a vast array of approaches, methods and experience to bear within our
work.
In support of us all, this book brings together the consolidated experience of some of
the most learned and experienced professionals in our field. Disregarding apparent boundaries
of philosophy or doctrine, they have mined gems from a broad range of developmental models
and approaches. What they offer here is practical, workable and ultimately effective. For those
who enjoy and require an understanding of context, you will find the origins of many techniques
here for reference. For the activists amongst us, you will find simple guidance and instruction
to help you grab, try and apply what works for you. It’s more of a banquet than a light buffet
and I encourage you to try the obvious along with the less familiar, to further develop the
strength and flexibility of your own coaching practice.
Enjoy this wonderful book, I hope it supports the work that you do.
Julie Starr
Author of The Coaching Manual, The Mentoring Manual
and Brilliant Coaching
xii ■ ■ ■
6834 TECHNIQUES FOR COACHING PT_246x189 mm 02/06/2016 06:00 Page xiii
PR E FACE
Techniques for Coaching and Mentoring, Second Edition, offers the best of Techniques for
Coaching and Mentoring and Further Techniques for Coaching and Mentoring, and aims to
capture gems from our own approaches and those of a wide variety of experienced coaches
from around the world.
This book is for all coaches and mentors in both traditional and nontraditional contexts.
It is particularly valuable for students studying coaching and mentoring, as it discusses
different theoretical approaches.
Specific features of this book include:
n Easy-to-use resources for those working in the field of one-to-one coaching, giving the
user specific techniques to try, think about and develop.
n The option of downloading the techniques in an editable format from the book’s
website, to facilitate the coach developing them for the benefit of their coachees.
n A range of case studies to see how the techniques can be used in practice.
n An overview of different theoretical approaches.
n A section on ‘Themes for the Coach’ which discusses the emerging topics of coaching
across cultures, evaluation of coaching practice and what is gained by this and finally,
the importance of looking after the coach, in terms of managing psychological well-being,
resilience and development and how this influences the coachee when the coach is
perceived as a role model.
We hope this book will be an invaluable compendium to your coaching and mentoring library
and that you use it as a springboard to developing your own style and techniques.
Natalie Lancer
David Clutterbuck
David Megginson
April 2016
xiii ■ ■ ■
6834 TECHNIQUES FOR COACHING PT_246x189 mm 02/06/2016 06:00 Page xiv
I
PA R T
I NTRODUCTION
CONTENTS
1 Introduction 3
6834 TECHNIQUES FOR COACHING PT_246x189 mm 02/06/2016 06:00 Page 2
1 I NTRODUCTION
The ideas and techniques in this book apply to mentoring and coaching equally. To avoid
‘clunkiness’, we use the word ‘coachee’ to be a catch-all for ‘coachee/mentee/client’ the word
‘coach’ to stand for both ‘coach’ and ‘mentor’ and ‘coaching’ to represent ‘coaching’ and
‘mentoring’.
CONTEXTUALISING TECHNIQUES
It often happens that coachees become so enmeshed in the complexities of their issues that
they are too confused to participate fully in the reflective process. They need a branch to
hang on to, while they draw breath and steady themselves within the maelstrom of their
thoughts and emotions. This branch provides a practical tool or approach that they can apply
and gives them a lifebelt, so they can concentrate less on ‘what am I going to do?’ than on
‘what more do I need to understand?’
One of the keys to effective mentoring and coaching is to constantly develop your
knowledge of different philosophies, tools and techniques, but not to hide behind them. Tools
are devices that help us talk about issues, whereas techniques have a process attached to
them, i.e. how to use the tool or a model in practice. Tools and techniques help your skills
to come to the fore, and you may be able to dispense with them altogether as you reach
‘coaching maturity’ (see Part III, Chapter 22).
We suggest you work through the following questions to help you decide whether to
use a technique in your context:
1 Does the use of a tool or technique offer something that the to and fro of dialogue can’t,
and/or does it get there more quickly than a normal conversation?
6834 TECHNIQUES FOR COACHING PT_246x189 mm 02/06/2016 06:00 Page 4
INTRODUCTION ■ ■ ■ ■
2 Does it put ‘another party’ into the room – a piece of paper, a flip chart, or some other
object that coach and coachee can interrogate?
3 Is it easy to make clear to the coachee what is involved in using the tool or technique
and how the process will go?
4 Does it leave open the content of the exploration so that it does not represent a
‘queggestion’ – a suggestion disguised as a question?
5 Is it possible to ensure informed consent from the coachee?
6 Are our motives for using the technique about supporting the inquiry of the coachee,
or are we being driven towards the technique by a desire to be seen to be clever, or
(equally unhelpfully!) a desire to be seen to be helpful?
On deciding which tool or technique to use, ask yourself the following questions:
1 Have you a good enough range of tools and techniques in your store cupboard so that
you are not using a few too often, whether they offer a good fit with the coachee’s needs
or not?
2 Is it the simplest technique that will do the job?
3 Have you tried it out on yourself or on fellow coachees or fellow supervisees?
4 Are you responding to a recognised and acknowledged need or wish of the coachee?
5 Can you adapt a tool or technique that you have used before so that it more closely
matches the needs or wishes of the coachee?
6 Does the tool or technique maximise the freedom of the coachee to come to their own
conclusion about the issue and to have a say at all stages about whether to continue?
1 Explain the principles behind the technique. Are these agreeable to the coachee?
2 Offer a brief, vivid explanation of the purpose, process, benefits and any downside risk
of using the technique. Check again for acceptance.
3 Set up and implement the technique collaboratively with the coachee.
4 Simplify it, if that is what the coachee wants.
5 Review it: Was it useful? Did it add anything compared with just talking about the issue?
6 Write up your learning from the process in a journal. Think about whether the technique
could be improved, or if you could develop your own technique around this issue.
The following questions are ones that we have found generative in developing techniques
for this book, and in our own professional practice:
■ ■ ■ 4
6834 TECHNIQUES FOR COACHING PT_246x189 mm 02/06/2016 06:00 Page 5
■ ■ ■ ■ INTRODUCTION
In addition to feeling comfortable with, adapting and developing your own range of techniques,
we recommend building your own library of good coaching questions. We call them RHQs
(Really Helpful Questions) because they oblige the coachee to pause and reflect, and
examine issues, at a level well below the normal surface response. At the end of each chapter
in Part II you will find relevant RHQs. Notice the predominance of ‘How’, ‘What’ and ‘Who’
questions, and the relative scarcity of ‘Why’. ‘Why’ takes us up into abstraction, whereas
‘How’, ‘What’ and ‘Who’ take us to the specific and concrete. Both, of course, are helpful in
the right context. What is the emphasis in your own list?
One of the problems practitioners in this field face is confusion of definitions: what one group
describes as coaching, another would perceive as mentoring. This arises due to the complexity
of coaching and mentoring and the plethora of different approaches. For example, there may
be more in common between certain types of coaching and mentoring than between certain
types of coaching.
The first recorded mentor was Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Athena took on the
appearance of Mentor, a character in Homer’s Odyssey, to guide the young man Telemachus
and his father Odysseus. Mentoring can be described as using one’s wisdom (the product
of reflection on experience) to help another person build their own wisdom. Both mentoring
and coaching mean different things in different parts of the world and have been used in
markedly different contexts. For example, the US model of mentoring involves a one-way
learning process where a mentor is a sponsor or advocate for a protégé, and is often an
experienced individual in the same field.
In Europe, mentoring is usually associated with ‘developmental mentoring’ and is more
of a two-way process. The focus is on helping the mentee develop their own high-quality
5 ■ ■ ■
6834 TECHNIQUES FOR COACHING PT_246x189 mm 02/06/2016 06:00 Page 6
INTRODUCTION ■ ■ ■ ■
Figure 1.1
Influence
Diagram
(Directive)
showing the link
between
developmental
mentoring and
Traditional Sponsorship
developmental
coaching Coaching Mentoring
Personal
Performance Career
Development
Developmental Developmental
Coaching Mentoring
Influence
(Non-directive)
thinking. The mentor has wisdom and experience, but uses them to help the mentee become
courageous and develop their own wisdom rather than to impart knowledge. Similarly, some
coaching is a process that is owned and directed by the coach whereas developmental
coaching is non-directive. The coach will assume a questioning style helping the coachee to
own the thinking and the learning/solutions.
In 2016, in the UK, there are greater similarities between developmental mentoring and
developmental coaching than between, for example, sponsorship mentoring (the name given
to the US-derived approach) and developmental mentoring and between traditional coaching
and developmental coaching. The two can be thought of as being related to the context rather
than the process, as Figure 1.1 shows.
In both developmental coaching and developmental mentoring, the coach uses their
experience to craft powerful questions. Advice-giving is permissible, but not as a first resort
and only in specific circumstances. The process of advising is primarily about providing
contextual information, which the coachee does not have, so the coachee can make better-
informed decisions. (A common complaint about ineffective coaches is their over-rigid
adherence to never giving advice.) Much of the learning occurs in the reflections of the
coachee/mentee between or long after sessions. Coach and mentor both have a duty of care
towards the coachee/mentee. We will discuss this duty of care in the next section.
Sponsorship mentoring is hierarchical. The mentor’s influence and authority is important.
The learning is mainly one way, from mentor to mentee. The mentor may be a sponsor, directly
intervening to influence the career of their protégé, and is sometimes the mentee’s line
manager. Transactional/instrumental (hands-on) help and direct advice play a large role.
However, developmental mentoring is different as both parties’ experience is valued and both
work to minimise power distance. The mentor helps the mentee to think and develop personal
wisdom and to grow in self-efficacy. Learning occurs in both directions.
■ ■ ■ 6
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■ ■ ■ ■ INTRODUCTION
Although much coaching and mentoring is conducted in the business context, new contexts
in which coaching and mentoring techniques are being applied are opening up. Below we
illustrate several contexts with case studies.
7 ■ ■ ■
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INTRODUCTION ■ ■ ■ ■
C week. I knew that I would be warmly welcomed back, yet I found I was dreading the actual
A return to work. My departure had been sudden. I finished work unexpectedly for health reasons,
S without a formal close down and without a mentor. I had had a blast on maternity leave. I loved
E
being with my baby and loved my new lifestyle. Two to three months before I was due back, I
S found the ‘Sunday night’ feeling creeping back.
T On my first day back, people were so welcoming, yet I felt like the whole world had
U changed. Physically I was working in a different place, there was a new management structure
D
Y and a new manager. So despite being with the business for six years, I remember getting to
the front door and taking a big deep breath asking ‘Who am I in this workplace? What am I
doing?’ I had never had to think consciously like this before. Throughout the first day, I found
myself looking at the clock wondering ‘Can I go yet?’ I was simply not feeling myself – the
professional self, the confident self, the ‘I know what I’m doing’ self.
I think I’d completely underestimated coming back to a brand new role (new to me, new
to RSC), working part-time (my work had never been restricted by my hours before) and working
for a new boss who had been at the same level as me prior to my maternity leave. I gave myself
a month to adjust and feel better, but I knew that things weren’t right, so I approached the
Training and OD Manager to ask if she might consider mentoring me. The relationship was
born.
The mentoring support helped me to clarify what my issues were. I thought it was because
I didn’t want to leave my baby, but I think the issue was more about my relationship with myself
at work. I had been away so long, I had lost my confidence. The mentoring guided me through
and took me on a new journey to return.
I am a mentee who thrives on tools and models. Specifically, some of the tools which
worked for me included:
n Making a list of my strengths before I had the baby and strengths I brought back to the
workplace when I returned from maternity. When I analysed it, I was more organised
(because I had to be with a toddler!), actually more confident when making decisions (both
for myself and the whole family), and much more self-aware (I noticed more about myself
and work now). I recognised many issues were concerned with a lack of self-belief.
n I was asked by my mentor to write a letter to myself. Of all the things we did, I
procrastinated over this the most, yet as I got into it, it was like giving myself a stern talking
to. It was brilliant, so therapeutic, and it enabled me to draw on the things fundamental
to me, my beliefs and context. I know this is at the heart of what I do and who I am.
n Coaching cards: We used a variety of coaching cards. They were a great preparation tool;
‘Which ones speak to you today, and can be explored through the mentoring? Over time,
themes tended to come out.
n Mapping the network: The business is in constant change. It was really useful to prioritise
this, to focus on who are the immediate people to contact, why that relationship might
be important and what I wanted to get out of it. This tool also illustrated that I didn’t have
■ ■ ■ 8
6834 TECHNIQUES FOR COACHING PT_246x189 mm 02/06/2016 06:00 Page 9
■ ■ ■ ■ INTRODUCTION
to reconnect with everybody immediately and helped me to prioritise the key relationships C
I should re-develop. A
n Writing a plan of your ideal day: This taught me a lot and made it okay to say, as a new S
parent, my ideal day may not be all about work! E
n 28 days (an exercise) is one I really don’t want to forget and became a highlight. I sent S
a text to my mentor detailing something I’d achieved every day – work related (completing T
a project) or personal (making a really nice stew!). It encouraged me to focus on positive U
D
achievements and importantly, my mentor responded every single day. It cemented the Y
relationship and helped me recognise there was an awful lot going on in my life that was
really good.
Mentoring made a safe space to think about myself. As a new parent, at work and at
home, it is a busy life, and it feels indulgent to take time for reflection. The mentoring enabled
me to have that time to reflect and helped me though an enormously challenging period in my
life. I fundamentally feel like myself again. I am the Gemma from before with added benefits
of being a mother and bringing all this experience back to the workplace. I am more grateful
to my employer than I have ever been. The mentoring time and space supported my actual
return to work.”
Ethical mentoring
One of the authors (David Clutterbuck) has been instrumental in pioneering ethical mentoring.
Ethical mentoring is a confidential learning relationship between peers, aimed at helping the
mentee resolve ethical dilemmas, develop increased ability to recognise and work with
ethical issues, influence the ethical culture of their organisation and to be become more
authentic, values-driven leaders. It is about helping others to make better decisions at work
that affect the well-being of others. It provides a moral context to help people evaluate
business processes and for resolving conflict between business and social imperatives. At
its core is:
The UK National Health Service has been rocked by a series of ethical scandals in recent
years. Among them:
n Misusing data to suggest that targets had been achieved, when they had not.
n Retention and unsanctioned use of dead children’s body parts, without parents’ consent.
n A dismal record of targeting and intimidating whistleblowers.
9 ■ ■ ■
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INTRODUCTION ■ ■ ■ ■
South Tees region volunteered to pioneer for the NHS an approach tried some months
before in the financial services sector – ethical mentoring. The role of an ethical mentor is to
be a resource to which people can go if they have (or suspect they have) an ethical dilemma,
or if they want to report unethical behaviour but are unsure how to go about it without negative
personal consequences, or if they wish to become more ethically aware. (The latter is
important in roles where ethical dilemmas are particularly likely to occur.)
A group of internal coaches, all with considerable experience both as coaches and as
NHS employees, was invited to take part in ethical mentor training. This involved exploration
of how to add mentoring skills to their coaching expertise; and grounding in the psychology
and practical mechanics of ethicality and how people make ethical choices. Issues of
particular importance included how people tend to believe themselves to be more moral in
their choices than is really the case; and the tendency in some circumstances of medical
practitioners to place colleague loyalty above their responsibilities towards patients. The
ethical mentors rapidly found that they had a ‘market’, with a wide variety of issues being
brought to them. (See the case study, ‘Ethical mentoring at South Tees Hospitals NHS
Foundation Trust’ for more detail.)
A colleague decided to share a dilemma that they have been ruminating about for many years
and weren’t sure if they should or could do something about it. I stepped into ‘role’ and started
■ ■ ■ 10
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
Fig. 4.—PHOTOGRAPH OF RING NEBULA IN LYRA
(Enlarged 8 diameters)
It was now ready for the second stage of the operation the grinding
of the correct shape for the upper reflecting surface. In order to
bring the light of a star to an accurate focus this surface must be a
paraboloid of revolution, the same kind of curve given to the
reflectors of search lights or automobile headlights. The curve for
this reflector of 30 feet focus is very nearly a section of a sphere of
60 feet radius, within one-thousandth of an inch, and consequently
would nearly fit a huge globe 120 feet in diameter. The upper
surface of the disc was fine ground and polished to this spherical
surface and was then ready for the final stage, the “figuring” a
continuation of the polishing process until the centre is deepened
about a thousandth of an inch and the surface becomes accurately
paraboloidal. This “figuring,” an exceedingly delicate and difficult
process especially over such a large surface as the 72-inch, with the
added difficulty of a central hole, occupied about two years and was
not completed until nearly a year and a half after the mounting was
ready. When it is remembered, however, that the surface nowhere
deviates from the true theoretical form more than one four-hundred-
thousandth of an inch and that if one part is accidentally polished
too deep, the whole surface has again to be brought down to this
level, the exceeding delicacy of the operation is evident and the time
taken not excessive.
Accurate quantitative tests showed that the final figure is of the
highest order of accuracy and this is further clearly shown by the
practical test of direct photographs at the principal focus. Figure 4, a
six fold enlargement of a photograph at the principal focus, of the
Ring Nebula in Lyra shows how sharp and small are the star images.
Actual measurement on the original negative gives a minimum
diameter of two one-thousandths of an inch equivalent to only a
second of arc at the focus. As the images are enlarged considerably
by unsteadiness of the air and errors in guiding the star light
reflected from the whole surface of the mirror is collected into a little
disc less than a thousandth of an inch in diameter indicating the
extraordinary accuracy of the reflecting surface. Mr. J. B. McDowell,
head of the firm since Dr. Brashear’s death, and Mr. Fred Hegemann,
his chief optician, are to be highly congratulated on the perfection of
figure obtained under specially difficult circumstances. Further the
fine rendering of the detail in the ring and the strength of the two
bands in the interior indicate not only perfect figure but exceptionally
high polish.
Mounting of Mirror
This mirror, to maintain its accuracy, not only requires careful
mounting in its cell but also protection against temperature changes.
Even though 12 inches thick it would bend under its own weight of
4,300 lbs. sufficiently to affect the figure and consequently it is
supported in the cell by a specially counterweighted lever system so
that it is equably supported at twelve points and there is no
tendency to bend. A similar lever support system around the edge
prevents distortion due to constraint when it is tipped from the
horizontal position at different positions of the tube. Temperature
changes can produce much greater distortion than flexure but
Victoria has the advantage of very low diurnal range and the
temperature change around the mirror is made very small by a
lagging of cotton felt about 2 inches thick all round the sides of the
closed section of the tube, laced on with a duck cover (compare Fig.
3 with Fig. 2) and an equal thickness below and around the edge of
the mirror. By this lagging the temperature rise in the day-time is
only about half a degree while the dome temperature increases five
degrees, hence the figure of the mirror remains good whatever the
temperature changes outside.
The Spectrographs
Most of the astronomical work with the 72-inch telescope is
spectroscopic, photographing the spectra of the stars, and so a
description of the principles and operation of spectrographs is
desirable. Stellar spectrographs have evolved into certain definite
forms and the two spectrographs for the 72-inch telescope are
examples of the most recent types. In essence a spectrograph
consists of a narrow slit, one or two-thousandths of an inch wide, on
which the star light is focussed. That passing through the slit falls on
the collimator lens which makes it parallel and then on a prism or
prisms, triangular shaped pieces of glass which change the direction
of the light and decompose it, breaking it up into its constituent
rainbow colours. The spectrum, as it is called, is focussed by a
camera lens on a photographic plate or can be viewed by a small
telescope if desired. The course of the star light from the slit through
collimator, prism and camera lens to the plate is shown in C, Fig. 5,
while a view of the Cassegrain spectrograph showing the interior
mechanism and accessories is given in Fig. 6. The part of the
spectrum photographed is usually only the blue and violet region to
which the ordinary plate is most sensitive, and obviously no colours
appear on the negative but only a narrow dark strip which is crossed
by light or dark lines. It is from the number and position of these
lines that we obtain such a remarkable amount of information about
the physical and chemical constitution, the temperature, motion and
distance of the stars. The length of the star spectrum photographed
with one prism is about one and a third inches, twice and three
times that with two and three prisms. Its width is about one-
hundredth of an inch and in order to make it this wide the star
image has to be moved back and forward along the slit. The length
of spectrum with the ultra-violet spectrograph, which only differs
from the other in the prisms and lenses allowing the spectrum below
the violet to pass, is about one inch. A photograph of the spectrum
of iron or brass is made beside the star spectrum to serve as a
standard to determine the positions of the star lines.
Radial Velocities
When the 72-inch telescope was in course of design and
construction, one of the greatest needs in astronomical work was
increased data in regard to the radial velocities of the stars.
Although the telescope was so designed as to be suitable for all
kinds of observational work, special attention was devoted to the
spectroscopic end. After consultation with the most prominent
astronomers an observing programme of about 800 stars whose
“proper” or cross motions across the sky were accurately known but
whose radial velocities had not been determined, was prepared and
spectroscopic observations of the stars on this programme were
commenced as soon as the telescope was completed in May 1918.
After slightly over three years’ work, observation and measurement
were completed and Vol. II, No. 1 of the observatory publications,
“The Radial Velocities of 594 Stars,” was published early in 1922. As
hitherto the radial velocities of only about 2,000 stars had been
obtained, this work was a considerable addition to existing data
about the motions of the stars and will be of great use in extending
our knowledge of the structure and motions of the universe. A
second programme of 1,500 stars has been prepared but owing to
other intervening observational work, not much has yet been done
on this new programme.
One of the auxiliary programmes undertaken and nearly completed
since the first programme is the determination of the radial velocities
of a very interesting but limited class of stars, the highest
temperature stars known, the O-type stars. The radial velocities and
other interesting data about 50 of these stars have been completed.
Other Investigations
Direct photographs have been made of some nebulae and clusters
but this work is not being definitely followed at present.
Investigations into the phenomena accompanying some short period
binaries have been made and into the behaviour of the two strong
calcium lines H and K in the spectra of the high temperature stars
from which interesting and valuable results are expected. Since the
observatory commenced work two bright novae or new stars have
appeared, which have been fully observed spectroscopically here
and the results discussed. The plates of the nova in Aquila have
been loaned to the observatory at the University of Cambridge,
England, for fuller discussion and analysis.
Economic Value
In view of past experience in science it would hence be a rash
prediction to assert that the investigation of the conditions in distant
stars can have no practical application upon earth. It may be of
interest to point out one possible application of astrophysical
research.
It is generally agreed that one of the most important economic
problems of the not far distant future will be the provision of sources
of energy to replace our rapidly depleting supplies of coal and oil. It
appears now that the most probable solution of this problem will
consist in the development of some method for utilizing the
inexhaustible stores of energy contained in the atoms of matter.
Modern research on conditions in the stars has made it practically
certain that the enormous supply of energy, which has been radiated
into space for aeons of time from these bodies, can only be
maintained undiminished by the energy released by the
transformation of atoms in the interior of the stars, where conditions
of temperature and pressure prevail at present unattainable in
terrestrial laboratories. The most hopeful line of attack upon this
tremendously important economic problem hence seems to lie in the
systematic astrophysical investigation of conditions in the stars
supplemented by physical and chemical researches on the structure
of the atom.
Ethical Value
While astronomers and scientific men generally fully realize the value
of the practical applications of science, their main purpose is the
search for truth and the extension of our knowledge of nature. While
it is possible that investigation of the stars may have immense
economic value, it is certain that it has tremendous ethical value
giving us a clearer knowledge of the laws of nature and of our
relations to the wonders of creation. Astronomy is the oldest and in
many respects the most important of the sciences and its study,
through the ages has been one of the most elevating influences on
human character. Poincaré has well said that if the earth had been
so continuously covered with clouds that the heavenly bodies could
not be seen, mankind would still be in a primitive state and under
the domain of superstition. The main superiority of modern over
ancient civilization does not consist in the greater abundance of the
necessities and luxuries of life, although this is undoubtedly due
primarily to scientific research, but to the elevating influences of the
truer conceptions of nature made possible by the abstract study of
astronomy and other sciences.
It has been truly said that the degree of civilization of a country may
be judged by the support it gives to the study of astronomy. By the
establishment and maintenance of the Dominion Observatory at
Ottawa and of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory at Victoria
with the second largest telescope in the world, Canada has a just
claim on this criterion to the favourable estimation of the scientific
world.
VICTORIA, B.C.,
May, 1923.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
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