Carolyn and Gene Shoemaker

Carolyn Spellman’s father Leonard was originally a rancher, but he quit ranching and took up a store business in Gallup when he married Carolyn’s mother Hazel Arthur. Carolyn was born in Gallup, New Mexico in 1929. Her family later moved to Chico, California. She and her brother, Richard, attended the Chico State College; there she received a BS and MS in history and political science. She had not been interested in astronomy and science. Carolyn became a junior high school teacher, but she did not enjoy teaching students who did not want to learn. Richard had decided to attend the California Institute of Technology and earned a degree in chemical engineering; Gene Shoemaker had been Richard’s roommate. In 1950, Gene met Carolyn at her Richard’s wedding was the best man. They were married on August 18, 1951. They had three children: Christy, Linda, and Pat.
Gene Shoemaker was born on April 28, 1928 in Los Angeles, California. He graduated Caltech at nineteen. Because of his thesis on the petrology of Precambrian metamorphic rocks, Gene earned his master’s degree a year later and joined the joined the United States Geological Survey. Gene went on to earn his Ph.D. at Princeton University. While working for the USGS, Gene first became interested in asteroid impacts and space. After seeing the Arizona's Meteor Crater in 1952, Gene realized that it and craters on the moon were created by asteroid impacts. In 1960, Gene earned his doctorate from Princeton with a thesis on Meteor Crater.

They eventually settled in Flagstaff, Arizona, and Gene took an active role in astrogeology, the Ranger missions to the moon and astronaut training. Gene always wanted to go to the moon, but he was diagnosed with Addison's disease in 1963. Gene helped to start the USGS Center for Astrogeology 1965. He was appointed chief scientist helped to plan lunar landings. In 1969 Gene became a professor of geology at Caltech and was chairman of the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences. He retired from the teaching in 1985 and retired from the USGS in 1993; however, he started work at the Lowell Observatory.
For many years Carolyn was a supportive wife and caring mother. In 1980 she started to measure images from the Palomar films. Carolyn was adept at examining Schmidt film and helped to discover (3199) Nefertiti, an Amor asteroid. In fact, Carolyn helped to find 800 asteroids and 32 comets in total.
Carolyn and Gene Shoemaker are most famous for their joint discovery, with David Levy, of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. The three discovered it in 1993, but the comet had already been ripped apart by Jupiter’s gravitational force in 1992. The comet had orbited Jupiter in 21 icy fragments until they crashed into the planet in 1994. Carolyn and Gene received the Rittenhouse Medal in 1988 and the Scientists of the Year Award in 1995.
Unfortunately, during Gene and Carolyn’s annual trip to Australia to study impact craters, the two were in a car accident. Carolyn survived the crash, but Gene was killed instantaneously in the car accident on July 18, 1997. Carolyn sustained many serious injuries, but she eventually recovered and continued observation work.

“It is hard to separate the careers and lives of Carolyn and Gene Shoemaker. The two mutually supported each other throughout their symbiotic marriage. Without Gene, Carolyn would never have become a famous astronomer. Without Carolyn's help, Gene would never have progressed very far with his asteroid statistics program, never have found comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, and probably would never have mapped impact craters in Australia. Without each other, they would not have been successful companions and working partners, had their children, or home life.” -Mary G. Chapman

Works Cited

Chapman, Mary G. "Carolyn Shoemaker." 17 May 2002. 20 May 2008 .

Marsden, Brian. "Eugene Shoemaker." 21 May 2008 .

4.7: Circles in the Sky

This is a picture taken by Jean-Marc Lecleire near the Chateau de Chambourd in France. It is a picture of ice halos that have formed around the sun. The picture was taken looking straight up and spans almost 180 degree; the halo has a radius of 22 degrees ands. The halo around the sun formed from light refracting through hexagon shaped ice crystals in high clouds. Even though I have never seen this phenomenon before, it is apparently more common that rainbows!

Observation April 27

We looked at many constellations including Orion (Betelgeuse and Rigel), Gemini (Castor and Pollux), Bootes (Arcturus), Ursa Major - Big Dipper, Canes Venatici (Cor Caroli), Leo(Regulus), Leo Minor, Corvus, Crater, Virgo (Spica), and many others. We also saw Saturn and Mars. Mars was right next to Gemini. I also learnt that with the Big Dipper I follow the arc to Arcturus and sped on to Spica. :) We also looked a number of M objects (but I forget the exact numbers and Mr. Percival threw away my sheet that I wrote the numbers down on), but I do remember we looked at M42 through the binocs.

4.6: Alborz Mountain Milky Way

This is a picture of the stratovolcano Mt. Damavand. It is 5,670 meters high and is part of the Alborz Mountain Range near the Caspian Sea. To the left of the peak you can see the Big Dipper in Ursa Major and the Milky Way. Deneb, Altair, Antares, and Jupiter can also be seen in the picture. I wish we could see this many stars in Sarasota!

4.5: The Tarantula Zone

This is a picture of the tarantula nebula. It is a large star forming region, is more that 1,000 light-years in diameter, and is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud. I love that APOD referes to this nebula as a "cosmic arachnid". I must say, it has a very ugly name for something so beautiful. In this nebula there are stellar winds, supernova shocks, and radiation. It is located in the constellation Dorado and is surrounded by other violent star-forming regions.

4.4: Sky Delights Over Sweden

So much is going on in this picture! In the distance you can see the green and red auroras. You can also see red emission nebulas in the sky; these include the Heart and Soul Nebulas, IC 1396, and the North America Nebula. You can also see the Milky Way galaxy's central band going from the upper left to the lower right. The Andromeda galaxy can also be seen on the lower left side. This picture is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen!!!

4.3: Curious Cometary Knots in the Helix Nebula

This picture was taken by the Hubble Telescope. It is a picture of gas knots found in the Helix Nebula. They can also be found in the Ring Nebula, Dumbbell Nebula, and the Eskimo Nebula. The source of these knots is sill not known very well; however, there is hypothesis that they are driven out by stellar winds. These knots have masses similar to Earth's, but the radii are about the size of Pluto's orbit. The Helix Nebula is about 700 light-years away in the Aquarius constellation. This picture is so beautiful; it almost looks like the ocean.

4,2: Wisps Surrounding the Horsehead Nebula

This is a picture of the famous Horsehead Nebula (located 1,500 light-years away in Orion). To look at specific details, the astronomers at Star Shadow Remote Observatory studied the location for seven hours with a small telescope. They filtered out all the colors except for a very specific color of red light. They added this picture to a picture will full color taken over three hours. Therefore, we are able to see "an intricate tapestry of gaseous wisps and dust-laden filaments" created by stellar winds and supernovas. Since pink is my favorite color, I just love this picture!

4.1: Jules Verne in Orbit

This is a picture at the edge of the Earth as the light fades to night. Jules Verne in this picture is a European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle. Jules is practicing its automated docking cabability as it approaches the International Space Station. Using a laser guide, Jules docked safely on Thursday and delivered over 7,500 ounds of equipment. Jules will remain docked until August. Jules has a diameter of 4.5 meters and is 10.3 meters long. I just love that this transfer vehicle is named after Jules Verne who dreamed of rockets traveling to space. :)

3.10: M104 Hubble Remix

This is a picture of M104 taken by the Hubble Telescope. M104 is a spiral galaxy and is found in the constellation Virgo. The dust lanes give the galaxy a hat-like appearance and is referred to as the Sombrero Galaxy :) M104 is 50,000 light-years across and 28 million light-years away. This is an old picture, but it has been reprocessed and new details have been revealed.

More Pletary Nebula

http://astrojan.fw.hu/images/nebula1b.jpg

Plantary Nebula

http://www.skyimagelab.com/nebulae.html
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/planetary_nebulae.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search?planetary+nebula
http://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclubs/planetarynebula/planetneb1.html

Sand Dunes Thawing on Mars

This is a photo of melting sand dunes on Mars. Spring is just starting in Mars' Northern Hemisphere. Therefore, the sand dunes close to the pole are melting. The dunes, made of carbon dioxide and ice, are sublimating striaght to their gaseuos state. The thin ice thaws first; then the sand absorbes the sunlight and speeds up the thawing process (also, some sandy jets might explode throught the thin ice!). By summer, the spots of sand will cover the all the dunes. It will then be completly thawed and black.

Henrietta Swan Leavitt

Henrietta Swan Leavitt was born on July 4, 1868 in Lancaster, Massachusetts. Her father was a Congregational minister. She attended Radcliffe College and graduated in 1892; in 1895 she began to work at Harvard College Observatory as a research assistant. Leavitt stopped working at the Observatory for a few years because of an illness. She was left partially deaf from the illness, but returned as a permanent staff member at the observatory in 1902 and soon became the department head for photographic stellar photometry.
Edward C. Pickering hired Leavitt and many other women to help collect data; they are known as "Pickering's Women". He assigned Leavitt to compare photographic plates to identify stars with varying brightness in the Magellanic Cloud. In 1904, two photographs of the Small Magellanic Cloud were compared and many variable stars were found. Therefore, higher quality pictures were taken with a two to four hour exposure, and fifty-seven more variable were discovered. Pictures were also taken of the Large Magellanic Cloud and many more variables were found. Analyzing these photographic plates was a dull task, but Leavitt was able to discover 1777 new variables in total. Leavitt specifically focused on a group of stars known as the Cepheid variables. By assuming that all the stars in the Magellanic Cloud are about the same distance away, Leavitt realized that distance was related to luminosity, not just to apparent magnitude. This became known as the Period-Luminosity relation. This relationship is used to help to determine the distance to galaxies, star clusters, and other far-away objects. In fact, scientists are able to estimate our galaxies size and shape because of Leavitt’s work.
Unfortunately, Pickering reassigned Leavitt from her Cepheid work to try and determine a star’s photographic brightness. Leavitt determined the absolute magnitude of about 47 stars near the North Pole. These stars were used as a standard to determine others stars’ brightness. Henrietta Leavitt died on December 12, 1921 from cancer. Leavitt’s work is so appreciated that she was nominated for the Nobel Prize by the Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1925.
Interestingly, Leavitt worked with another great female astronomer, Annie Jump Cannon, during her years at Harvard. She was also one of "Pickering's Women".

Works Cited
"Annie Jump Cannon." San Diego Supercomputer Center. 7 Mar. 2008 .
Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 1992. 6 Mar. 2008 .
Bailey, Solon I. "Henrietta Swan Leavitt." 6 Mar. 2008 .
Barba, Robertta H. "Henrietta Swan Leavitt." San Jose State University. 1996. 6 Mar. 2008 .
"Henrietta Swan Leavitt,." Bloomfield Science Museum Jerusalem. 6 Mar. 2008 .
Leavitt, Henrietta S. "1777 Variables in the Magellanic Clouds." Annals of Harvard College Observatory 60 (1908): 87-108.3. 6 Mar. 2008.
Nemiroff, Robert, and Jerry Bonnell. "Henrietta Leavitt Calibrates the Stars." NASA. 27 Oct. 1998. 6 Mar. 2008 .
Turner, Jean. "Henrietta Swan Leavitt." University of California. 1997. 6 Mar. 2008 .

Apparent Magnitude

Eta Aurigae - 3.1
Beta Eridani - 3.0
Gamma Orionis - 1.5
Beta Tauri - 1.7
Delta Orionis - 1.2
Zeta Orionis - 1.3
Mu Geminorum - 3.1
Xi Geminorum - 3.5
Sigma Canis Majorum - 3.7
Eta Canis Majorum - 2.9
Alpha Meminorum (Castor - 1.1

3.8: NGC 4676: When Mice Collide

The two galaxies in the picture are pulling each other apart. They are referred to as the mice because they have such long tails. The tails are caused because the difference in their gravitational pulls on different areas of the galaxies. Of course, this is all happening extremely slowly. NGC 4676 is about 300 million light-years away and is located in the constellation Coma Berenices. This picture was taken with the Hubble Telescope.

3.7: Long Stem Rosette

This picture is fabulous! The rosette nebula actually looks like a rose! (I love that this was the picture for :) Valentine's Day) It is red because of the hydrogen. The "petals" are a molecular cloud in the constellation Monoceros. It is stellar nursury about 5,000 light-years away. The diameter of the center "cavity" is about 50 light-years. The stars there are relatively young- they are only a few million years old.

Astronomer Bio Sites

http://www.physics.ucla.edu/~cwp/Phase2/Leavitt,_Henrietta_Swan@871234567.html
http://www.mada.org.il/website/html/eng/2_1_1-31.htm
http://astro.berkeley.edu/~gmarcy/women/leavitt.html
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap981027.html
http://www.sjsu.edu/depts/Museum/lea.html
http://hoa.aavso.org/posterswan.htm

3.6: Abell 2218: A Galaxy Cluster Lens

Almost all the bright objects in this picture are galaxies in the Abell 2218 cluster. The cluster is really big, so its gravity can actually bend light and act like a telescope. It focuses the light of galaxies that lie behind it. These galaxies are about three billion light-years away in the constellation Draco. This "cluster telescope" has allowed astronomers to see a galaxy at redshift 5.58. So far, that is the farthest away galaxy that has been measured. This picture was taken by the Hubble Telescope.

3.5: Venus and Jupiter in Morning Skies

I completely fell in love with this picture, it is so beautiful. The two bright star-like things are actually Venus and Jupiter! They are the second and third britest objects in the nightime sky (after the moon). The planets are separated by about two degrees when this picture was taken on Janruary 30. However, gap between the two planets closed to about half a degree on following nights. This picture was taken along the Miankaleh Peninsula and Gorgan Bay.

Star Formation

Sites about Star Formation:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap011125.html
http://www.ipac.caltech.edu/Outreach/Edu/sform.html
http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/rcfta/anrep93/node19.html
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=10376
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2001/26
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap050621.html
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/multimedia/spitzer20070913.html
http://web99.arc.nasa.gov/~csf/

3.4: A Solar Eclipse Painting from the 1700s

This painting was completed in 1735 by Cosmas Damian Asam. Historians believe it is the first realistic depiction of a solar eclipse. Asam was a painter and architect in 18th century Germany. Historians hypothesize that Asam possibly saw eclipses in May 1706, 1724, and 1733. Asam not only painted the eclipse he showed the solor corona and diamond ring shape around the sun. The person in the painting is St. Benedict. The painting is now hanging in the Wettenburg Abbey in Germany.

3.3:

This photo was taken from Pic du Midi Observatory in the French Pyrenees. La Mongie ski resort is lighting up the mountain slopes on the right. Lights from Southern France and Germany also light up the horizon. Many constellations and astronomical objects can be seen in this picture: Orion, Gemini, Mars, etc. The domes on the left hold a 0.6 meter telescope that amateur astronomers can use. There is also a one meter telescope that was used during Apollo lunar landing missions and is currently used used for the Sun-watching CLIMSO. This picture is incredibly beautiful and magical. The starry sky and luminous lights on the mountains and horizon create a truly dazzling sight.

3.2: The Cocoon Nebula from CFHT

This is a picture of the Cocoon Nebula, but it is cataloged as IC 5146. It is about 4,000 light-years away and can be found near the Swan constellation, Cygnus. Many new open clusters are developing in the Cocoon Nebula. Therefore, it also has a red emission nebula, blue reflection nebulas, and dark absorption nebulas. These nebulas produce the variety of colors that can be ssen in this photo taken by the CFHT in Hawaii. Recent measurements suggest that the large star on the left in this picture opened a hole in a molecular cloud; the glowing material flows through this hole.

Observation Session: 1/8/08

During this session we first looked at the moon through binocs. Although the moon was only a crescent, we could still see the darker part of the moon because of Earth shine. We also looked at a number of constellations and asterisms: Cepeus, Casseopia, Pegasus(the Great Square), Eridanus, Orion, Pisces(circlet). Names and first magnitude stars we looked at are Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, Rigel, Sirius, and Achernar. We also looked at Mars and other M objects through the telescope, and M31 with the binocs.

Observation Session 1/3/08

During this session we looked for “shooting stars” from the quadrantid meteor shower. We only saw one really good “shooting star” that streaked across the whole sky. I also saw about 5 small “shooting stars”.

Observation Session 12/6/07

During this lesion we viewed many constellations and asterisms including the summer triangle, Casseopia, Cetus, Perseus, etc. We also viewed first magnitude stars like Fomalhaut and Vega. We also viewed Comet Holmes, Mars, and various M objects through the telescope.

Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve

Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve was born on April 15, 1793 in Altona (which was then in Denmark). Napoleon’s army was looking for recruits, but Struve escaped in 1808 and began to attend University of Dorpat. His brother, Karl, was a professor of philology at the University. Friedrich Struve decided to study philology too and received his degree in 1810. Georg Friedrich Parrot, a physicist, greatly influenced Struve. Struve became interested in sciences, especially Astronomy. He began observing astronomical phenomena at the Dorpat Observatory in 1812. Struve was later appointed professor of mathematics and astronomy. Under Struve’s direction the observatory was internationally acclaimed. It was especially commended after 1824 when the observatory gained the Fraunhofer equatorial telescope. This telescope had a 9.6-inch achromatic objective lens; it was the biggest of its time. Struve mainly observed and studied binary stars. He published his discoveries in Catalogus novus in 1827, Mensurae micrometricae in 1837, and Positiones mediae in1852. His observations of double stars proved that Newton’s law of gravitation also applies outside the solar system. Czar Nicholas I put some land aside in 1830 in the Pulkovo Hills near St. Petersburg. The land would be the location for a new observatory. The observatory opened in 1839; the Czar appointed Struve as the director. The observatory’s telescope had a 15-inch objective lens. With this impressive telescope, the observatory had the best equipment in Europe. Because of failing health, Struve had to retire in 1861. Struve finally dies on November 23, 1864 in St. Petersburg. His son, Otto Wilhelm von Struve, was also an astronomer was the director of the Pulkovo Observatory from 1858 to1899.

Struve spent many of his observations looking at double stars. Most double stars are actually binary stars instead of optical doubles. Binary stars orbit around each other’s barycenter and change position over time. Struve made measurements of these tiny position changes. From 1824 to 1837, he measured over 2,714 double stars. He published his data in Stellarum duplicium et multiplicium mensurae micrometricae. Struve also measured aberration. Although Friedrich Bessel was the first to measure a star’s parallax, Struve was the first to measure Vega’s parallax.

Struve also completed geodetic surveying between 1816 and 1855. To try and find the exact size and shape of the Earth, he started the Struve Arc. It was a chain of survey triangulations from Hammerfest to the Black Sea. It covered over 2,820 km and went through 10 countries. Many scientists and monarchs had to work together to complete the surveying. “The original arc consisted of 258 main triangles with 265 main station points” (Smith).

Works Cited

"Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve." NNDB. 2008. Soylent Communications. 9 Jan.

2008 .

Gale, Thomson. "Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Von Struve." BookRags. 2006.

Encyclopedia of World Biography. 9 Jan. 2008 .

Ripley, George, and Charles A. Dana. "Encyclopedia of World Biography."

Google Book Search. 1883. 9 Jan. 2008 .

Smith, J R. "The Struve Geodetic Arc." Sept. 2005. International Institution for

History of Surveying & Measurement. 9 Jan. 2008 .

3.1: Mammatus Clouds Over Mexico

Normal clouds are flat at the bottom. Normal clouds are formed when warm air rises and condenses at a specific height and temperature. Opaque clouds are formed with these water droplets. However, cloud pockets are sometimes formed. These pockets contain large ice or water droplets. As these droplets fall, they evaporate. These pockets are often associated with turbulent or stormy weather and are seen with anvil clouds. Mammatus clouds can result because of the pockets.

3.1: Mammatus Clouds Over Mexico

Normal clouds are flat on the bottom. When warm air rises and cool, it usually condenses at a specific temperature and height. An opaque cloud is formed from these water droplets. However, cloud pokets sometimes form with large ice or water droplets. They fall into clear air as they evaporate. These pokets are often assoiated with turbulent or stormy weather at the top of an anvil cloud. The result can be mammatus clouds.