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Day 15 - Caroline Herschel
Mar. 15th, 2018 11:04 amCaroline Herschel
Carolina Herschel and her brother, Williams, were German astronomers. Born in 1750 into a world where women were little more than chattel, Caroline Herschel loved singing and she loved her brother William. Her mother used her mostly as a servant but he father let her listen in on the lessons he taught her brother.
Initially they were singers and William took up astronomy to have something to do at night. That morphed over time to discovering Uranus and making new and better telescopes with which to view the sky. Caroline, began as his recorder and his assistant but she became an astronomer in her own right when she discovered several new things in her sky observations.
The pair moved to Bath England to further Williams career as a musician and gradually hnis careere changed from that to astronomer. Caroline catalogued his work and recorded what he observed at first then she began to make her own observations.
She discovered 9 comets and several nebulae over her career. She created her own sky catalog using polar distance to measure their location. Her catalogue was later published as the New General Catalogue
She was recognized by the government and given a salary of £50 a year as William’s, thus becoming the first woman in England with an official government position.
She was the first woman, along with Mary Somerville, to be the first females to be selected into the Royal Astronomical Society in 1835.
Top: Comet 2P Encke, a periodic comet which Caroline observed on November 7, 1795. Bottom: NGC 253, which Caroline discovered.
Caroline Herschel’s 3rd Comet, January 1790.
Carolina Herschel and her brother, Williams, were German astronomers. Born in 1750 into a world where women were little more than chattel, Caroline Herschel loved singing and she loved her brother William. Her mother used her mostly as a servant but he father let her listen in on the lessons he taught her brother.
Initially they were singers and William took up astronomy to have something to do at night. That morphed over time to discovering Uranus and making new and better telescopes with which to view the sky. Caroline, began as his recorder and his assistant but she became an astronomer in her own right when she discovered several new things in her sky observations.
The pair moved to Bath England to further Williams career as a musician and gradually hnis careere changed from that to astronomer. Caroline catalogued his work and recorded what he observed at first then she began to make her own observations.
She discovered 9 comets and several nebulae over her career. She created her own sky catalog using polar distance to measure their location. Her catalogue was later published as the New General Catalogue
She was recognized by the government and given a salary of £50 a year as William’s, thus becoming the first woman in England with an official government position.
She was the first woman, along with Mary Somerville, to be the first females to be selected into the Royal Astronomical Society in 1835.
Top: Comet 2P Encke, a periodic comet which Caroline observed on November 7, 1795. Bottom: NGC 253, which Caroline discovered.
Caroline Herschel’s 3rd Comet, January 1790.