Astronomer Biography

Harlow Shapley

Born on a farm in Nashville, Missouri on November 2, 1885, Harlow Shapley began school and shortly thereafter dropped out with the equivalent of a fifth grade education, but he still managed to become one of the greatest American astronomers ever. He studied at home while covering crime stories as a newspaper reporter. When he later returned to school to complete a six-year high school program, he ended up finishing in only two years and graduated as class valedictorian.

In 1907, Shapley was 22 and went to study journalism at the University of Missouri. When he found out that the School of Journalism would not be opening for another year, he chose to study the first subject he found in the course directory. He rejected archaeology and chose the next subject, Astronomy. (He did not chose Archaeology, we later found out, because he could not pronounce it.)

After graduation, Shapley began studying with a fellowship at Princeton University for graduate work. He studied under Henry Norris Russell and used the period-luminosity chart relation for Cepheid variable stars to determine the distances to globular clusters. He was the first to realize that the Milky Way Galaxy was much larger than earlier believed, and that the Sun was actually located in a nondescript part of the galaxy.

He later participated in the “Great Debate” with Heber Curtis on the nature of nebulas, galaxies, and the size of the Universe. This debate took place on April 26, 1920. Shapley argued against the theory that the Sun was at the center of the galaxy, and promoted that the globular clusters and spiral galaxies were within the Milky Way. We later found out that he was correct about the former and incorrect about the latter.

When the debate took place, Shapley was working at the Mount Wilson Observatory, being hired by George Ellery Hale. And after the debate, he was hired to replace the recently deceased Edward Charles Pickering as director of the Harvard College Observatory. He served as director of the HCO from 1921 to 1952. During this time, he hired Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, who became the first person to earn a doctorate at Harvard University in the field of Astronomy.

In the 1940’s Shapley helped found government funded scientific associations, including the National Science Foundation. He is also responsible for the addition of the “S” in UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization).

Throughout his life, Shapley earned many honors and awards. The Henry Draper Medal in 1926. The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1934. The Bruce Medal in 1939. The Henry Norris Russell Lectureship in 1950. He also had many things named after him. Shapley crater on the Moon. Asteroid 1123 Shapleya. Shapley Supercluster. Shapley later died on October 20, 1972.

Works Cited

Copal, Z. "Harlow Shapley." "Great Debate:" Obituary of Harlow Shapley. 1972. 19 May 2008 .
"Harlow Shapley." The Internet Encyclopedia of Science. 19 May 2008 .

APOD 4.7

Many dark dust lanes can be seen cutting acrossthe middle of this island universe, which is a big hint to astronomers that NGC 3628 is a spiral galaxy that we see sideways. Located almost 35 light-years away in the springtime constellation Leo, NGC 3628 bears the distinction of being the only member of the Leo triplet of galaxies not in Charles Messier's famous catalog. Similar in size to our Milky Way Galaxy, the disk of NGC 3628 is clearly seen as fanning out near the edges. A faint arm can also be seen extending out to the left in this sharp deep view of the region. The slighty distorted shape and faint tidal tail suggest that NGC 3628 is interacting gravitationally with the other spiral galaxies of the Leo triplet, M65 and M66. Its pretty cool to see this view of a galaxy and to think that its shape looks completely different when seen from another angle. Its also interesting to know that this galaxy was not part of Messier's list, but M65 and M66 also located in Leo are a part of the list.

APOD 4.6

This dusty cosmic cloud almost looks like tower on its side and is in silhouette against the large star field of Scorpius. Spanning over 40 light-years, clumps of dust and molecular gas collapsing to form stays might lurk within the dark nebula. Known as a cometary globule, the swept-black cloud is shaped by intense ultraviolet radiation from the OB association of hot stars in NGC 6231, which is off the left side of the image. The same energetic ultraviolet light also powers the globule's bordering reddish glow of hydrogen gas. Hot stars embedded in the dust can be seen as small bluish reflection nebulae. This dark tower, NGC 6231, and associated nebulae are around 5000 light-years away. This looks amazing, and to think that this image spans over 40 light-years and encompasses this many stars is incredible.

APOD 4.5

Located in NGC 3582, we see many bright stars and interesting molecules forming; this complex nebula resides in the star forming region RCW 57. In this image, you can see dense knots of dark interstellar dust, bright stars that have formed in the past few million years, fields of glowing hydrogen gas ionized by these stars, and great loops of gas expelled by dying stars. During a recent study of NGC 3582, 33 massive stars were discovered to be in the end stages of star formation, and there was a clear presence of the complex carbon molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs are thought to be created in the cooling gas of star forming regions, and their development in the Sun's formation nebula five billion years ago may have been an important step in the development of life on Earth. The colors in this image are truly amazing, and to think that these PAHs may have helped lead to the development of human life is pretty amazing. Interesting stuff.

APOD 4.4

Cosmic dust and gas interacting with the energetic light and winds from hot young stars forms this interstellar beast, known as the Fox Fur Nebula; the shape, visual texture, and color all combine to give this nebula its name. The blue glow on the left is dust reflecting light and winds from the bright star S Mon, which is actually outside the left edge of the image. The pink and brown colors are the combination of cosmic dust and reddish emission from ionized hydrogen gas. The star S Mon is part of a young open cluster of stars, NGC 2264, located about 2500 light-years away in the direction of Monoceros, just north of the Cone Nebula. Its pretty cool how you can actually see a fox type shape and how the colors are also similar to that of a fox.

APOD 4.3

Located in the large southern constellation of Centaraus, we see IC 2948, a bright nebula, which is also near Lambda Centauri and the eta Carina Nebula. Inside the red glowing cloud of hydrogen gas, is the energetic young star cluster IC 2944. Thackeray's Globules, the small dark clouds of obscuring cosmic dust, are potential sites for the formation of new stars, but are probably being eroded by the intense radiation from nearby young stars. If you look closely, you can clearly see the chicken shape, which gives this IC 2948 it's popular name, The Running Chicken Nebula. This entire view spans about 70 light-years, while this nebula is located an estimated 6000 light-years away. It's pretty interesting how you can actually see the running chicken shape inside this skyscape view.

APOD 4.2

Across the upperleft, Orion's belt is clearly visible, and is also clearly visible to the unaided eye at night. To the left of Alnitak, the lower left belt star, is the FLame Nebula with bright emission clouds and dark dust lanes. Directly below Alnitak is the Horsehead Nebula, and the Orion Nebula (M42) is more to the right and clearly visible to the unaided eye. Rigel, the bightest star in the picture, illuminates the Witch Head Nebula as a blue reflection nebula. Barnard's Loop is the bright red circle that encompasses the whole image. This picture is truly amazing since it has so many different pieces of astronomy located in it. It's also pretty cool how you can clearly find Orion's Belt.

APOD 4.1

In this image, it appears as though there is a large void of stars in the middle of space, but in reality there are thousands of stars there. This large empty space, once considered a hole in the sky, is now known as a dark molecular cloud. A high concentration of dust and molecular dust absorbs almost all the visible light emitted from the background stars. The interior of molecular clouds is the coldest and most isolated places in the universe. A notable molecular cloud, pictured above, is Barnard 68, toward the constellation Ophiuchus. Since there are no stars in the middle, Barnard 68 is relatively nearby, only about 500 light-years away and half a light-year across. These clouds are likely places for stars to form , but it is unknown how the cloud itself forms. With the use of infrared light, however, it is possible to look right through the cloud. It is pretty amazing how it appears there is a large void in space, but in actuality, there are thousands of stars behind the cloud.

APOD 3.9

Since we have been studying star formation, this apod seemed relatively appropriate. Astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to show LH 95, in the Large Magellanic Cloud, in great detail so that they could understand the process. Typically, only the bluest, brightest, most massive stars in a star forming region are visible, but in this highly resolved image, even the recently born more yellow, more dim, and less massive are also visible. Due to the scientific coloring of the image, one can also see blue sheen of diffuse hydrogen gas heated by the young stars and dark dust formed by stars or during supernova explosions. LH 95 spans about 150 light-years and lies almost 160,000 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Dorado, or swordfish. I couldn't even imagine counting all the stars in this LH 95 area. It's truly incredible to see so many stars in such a "small" area, along with the mix of blue hydrogen gas and dark dust.

Apparent Magnitude

Eta Aurigae- 3.6
Beta Eridani- 4.0
Gamma Orionis- 2.4
Beta Tauri- 3.1
Delta Orionis- 2.0
Zeta Orionis- 2.0
Mu Geminorum- 2.8
Xi Geminorum- 3.7
Sigma Canis Majorum- 4.4
Eta Canis Majorum- 2.0
Alpha Geminorum- 1.0

Planetary Nebula

<-Ring Nebula Helix^

A planetary nebula is a nebula, such as the Ring Nebula, consisting of a hot, blue-white, central star surrounded by an envelope of expanding gas.

NGC 6543

NGC 2440

Eskimo Nebula

NGC 7009

Cat's Eye Nebula

Spherical Nebula, Abell 39

Ant Nebula

M76, Dumbell Nebula

APOD 3.8

The Cat's Paw Nebula, located in Scorpius, is nearly 5,500 light-years away. It is an emission nebula with a red color originating from an abundance of ionized hydrogen atoms. Also known as the Bear Claw Nebula or NGC 6334, there are stars nearly ten times the mass of our Sun that have been born in this region in only the past few million years. The end of the Cat's Paw Nebula, the part shown here, was imaged from the Blanco 4-meter Telescope in Chile. This image is pretty amazing, especially since the nebula looks so much like a cats paw. The colors are extraordinary, and you can actually see the thousands of stars within the emission nebula that are relatively recently born.

APOD 3.7

These two spiral galaxies appear to being pulling each other apart. Known as the mice because their tails are so long, it is believed that they have already passed through each other, and will continue to do so until they integrate. The long tails are created by a relative difference between gravitational pullson the near and far parts of each galaxy. Due to the large distances, the cosmic interractions take place in slow motion, nearly millions of years. NGC 4676 lies almost 300 million light-years away near the constellation Coma Berenices (Bernice's Hair), and are likely members of the Coma Cluster of Galaxies. There are also other galaxies scattered about in the distance of this large field view. This looks pretty amazing, seeing as these two spiral galaxies seem to be tugging at each other, like a tug of war, until they will eventually collide and combine. Its also pretty cool to see the other galaxies, small but visible, in the distance.

Star Formation

NGC 3603, contains various stages of star formation, molecular clouds at right are stellar nurseries.

NGC 602, ongoing star formation in a young cluster.

Corona Australis, contains the coronet cluster at its center, is one of the nearest and most active star forming regions.

LH 95, star formation region, taken in March 2006 by Hubble.

NASA, star and planet formation.

NGC 7000, star forming wall is lit and eroding by bright, young stars.

M101, spiral galaxy shows giant star forming regions.

NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, merging galaxies show vigorous star formation, also known as the "Antennae".

Astronomer Biography

Henry Norris Russell

Danielle McCoy
Mr. Percival
Astronomy Honors
27 Feb. 2008

Henry N. Russell
For many years, Henry N. Russell was the leading theoretical astronomer in America. He began his life in Oyster Bay, New York on October 25, 1877. He was the first of three sons born to Alexander Gatherer Russell, a liberal Presbyterian minister, and Eliza Hoxie Norris, a mathematically skilled mother. He began at Princeton Preparatory School in 1890 and Princeton University in 1893, from which he graduated in 1897 insigni cum laude. He mainly studied mathematics, but his professor, Charles A. Young, had a great astronomical influence on Henry. He spent a year at the University of Cambridge, in Cambridgeshire, England, as a special student, where he attended the lectures of George Darwin. He studied for two years at the Cambridge University Observatory, where he developed one of the first photographic parallax programs for determining distances to stars.

Henry later returned to Princeton in 1905 as an instructor. He spent most of his professional life at Princeton, quickly rising to professorship in 1911 and becoming director of the observatory in 1912. Henry was convinced that the future of astronomical practice did not lay in open-ended data gathering programs, but rather in problem-oriented research in which theory and observation worked together. He was free to search for any new and exciting problems and to apply his mathematical talents to find their solutions. Up until 1920, Henry’s interests ranged widely from planetary and stellar astronomy to astrophysics. He developed means for the analysis of the orbits of binary stars, and developed methods for calculating the masses and dimensions of eclipsing variable stars. He also developed statistical methods for estimating the distances, motions, and masses of groups of binary stars. Henry worked with observational astronomers to analyze their hard found data, and he frequently showcased this information.

In studying stellar parallax at Cambridge, Henry applied his study of binary stars to what they could show about the lives and evolutions of stars and stellar systems. He used his parallax measurements to determine the absolute brightness of stars. When he compared their brightness to their colors, he determined that the majority of the stars in the sky (dwarfs), blue stars are brighter than yellow stars and yellows brighter than reds, but a few stars (giants) did not follow the same relationship, the yellows and reds were exceptionally brighter. When he later plotted this data, plotting brightness and spectra in a diagram, he showed the relationship between a star’s true brightness and its spectrum. He announced his results in 1913, and discovered that a Danish astronomer, Ejnar Hertzsprung had made the same discoveries. Within a year, the diagram was published and came to be known as the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram (HR Diagram).

Henry was a Christian liberal thinker; a family man, he married in 1908 and had four children with his wife. Being America’s leading astronomer, he was also president of the American Astronomical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Philosophical Society. He received awards like, the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society of England, two medals of the French Academy, five medals of American scientific societies, and many honorary degrees. Mexico even bestowed on him the Order of the Aztec Eagle, and issued a postage stamp in his honor. He remained director of the Princeton Observatory until 1947, when one of his students succeeded him. He later died on February 18, 1957 in Princeton, New Jersey.

Works Cited
Evans, Jc. "Henry Norris Russell." Physics & Astro Dept. , George Mason U. 25 Feb. 2008 .
Tenn, Joseph. "Henry Norris Russell." The Bruce Medalists. 25 Feb. 2008 .

APOD 3.6

The Rosette Nebula, NGC 2237, is one of many cosmic clouds of gas and dust that resemble a flower, but this nebula is the one most often used for the image of Valentine's Day. This image includes a long stem of glowing hydrogen gas, which more reflects a long stem rose. Over 5,000 light-years away, located in Monoceros, the petals of this rose are a cosmic nursery, whose shape is sculpted by the winds and radiation coming from its central cluster of hot young stars. The stars in the cluster, known as NGC 2244, are only a few million years old, while the central cavity in the Rosette Nebula is approximately 50 light-years in diameter. This image is pretty amazing. It looks exactly like a rose, especially with the long stream of hydrogen gas appearing to come off of the rose itself, resembling the long stem of a rose. It is really amazing how the central cavity of the rosette nebula is over 50 lgiht-years in diameter, that's a big rose.

APOD 3.5

NGC 4013, only about 50 million light-years away, can be seen in the constellation Ursa Major, and was originally thought to be a distant island universe. This spiral galaxy is especially known for its flattened disk shape and large amount of central stars with many dust lines. This image identifies a previously unknown object associated with NGC 4013, which is the enormous, faint loop which extends up and to the left, and is a mere 80 light-years from the galaxy's center. With further investigation, it appears that this faint loop is a stream of stars, originally belonging to another galaxy which was probably torn apart by gravitational tides as it merged with the larger spiral. Many astronomers believe this newly discovered tidal stream may explain the warped distribution of neutral hydrogen gas which has been seen in radio images of NGC 4013 and may even help explain the formation of our own Milky Way galaxy. This image is pretty amazing looking, and it is pretty cool to see the faint ring which is the stream of stars. To me, the stream of stars looks more like a stream of dust, but maybe that's just because this star stream is over 80 light-years away from a galaxy that is over 50 light-years away, which we all known is pretty far.

APOD 3.4

RCW 49, a dusty stellar star-forming region surrounds Westerlund 2, a young star cluster, in this skyscape shown beyond the visible spectrum of light. Shown in black and white, is the infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope, which compliment colors come from the Chandra X-ray image data (in false color) of the hot young stars in the cluster's central region. Near the southern constellation Centaurus, the cluster is situated at an estimated 20,000 light-years away. The square showing the Chandra field of view is about 50 light-years on a side. Westerlund 2 is only about 2 million years old, and contains some of our galaxy's most massive, luminous, and young stars. This is a pretty amazing picture with the 2 images placed together and shown in 2 different forms of light.

APOD 3.3

Located in the constellation Andromeda, m31 is the most distant object visible to the unaided eye. The Andromeda Galaxy is some two and a half million light-years away, which is outside the reaches of our own Milky Way Galaxy. Spanning over 200,000 light-years, this huge spiral galaxy is seen as a faint, nebulous cloud, even without the use of a telescope. This telescopic digital mosaic shows the bright yellow center, dark dust, long blue spiral arms, and star clusters can all be seen. In another image of m31, the moon and m31 are compared in angular size, and m31 is clearly much larger. The moon covers about 1/2 degree of the sky, which is no comparison to the amount m31 spans. This is a pretty incredible picture. It is truly amazing how large this galaxy is, and the fact that you can see an object outside our own galaxy is unbelievable.

APOD 3.2

This cosmic cloud, shaped like a helmet with wing-like appendages, is commonly referred to as Thor's Helmet. It seems, though, that Thor's Helmet is actually like an interstellar bubble, blown as a wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center passes through a molecular cloud. Thor's Helmet, or interstellar gas bubble, is almost 30 light-years across. The central star appears to be a Wolf-Rayet star, meaning it is an extremely hot giant, which is thought to be in a short pre-supernova stage of evolution. Located in the constellation Canis Major, Thor's Helmet, NGC 2359, is almost 15,000 light-years away. This image shows an emerald color, from a strong emission due to oxygen atoms in the glowing gas. It's truly amazing how you can see the shape of helmet, and evem the outline of what could be considered the wings on the helmet. The colors are so vibrant and amazing to see, and it is incredible how this "Helmet" or "interstellar bubble" spans over 30 light-years across.

Astronomer Biography

Danielle McCoy

Mr. Percival

Astronomy Honors

9 Jan. 2008

Nathaniel Bowditch

An American astronomer and mathematician, Nathaniel Bowditch was a great influence and made a huge impact on the world in his time. Rewriting John Hamilton Moore’s Practical Navigator and correcting errors in many other works, going to sea and becoming a master were just some of his many accomplishments.

Nathaniel Bowditch was born on March 26, 1773 in Salem, Massachusetts to mother Mary Ingersoll and father Habakkuk Bowditch. While Nathaniel was still a baby, his family moved to Danvers, Massachusetts, but returned to Salem by the time Nathaniel was seven. Due to strained family finances, Nathaniel was forced to quit school at the age of 10, and help his father in his father’s cooperage shop. After two years of helping his father, Nathaniel was able to become an apprentice clerk in the ship chandler’s shop Hodges and Ropes in Salem. By the age of 17, Nathaniel began working in the shop of Samuel C. Ward. Throughout this whole time, Nathaniel was continually educating himself. In March 1798, he married Elizabeth Boardman, but she died later the same year. In October of 1800, he married his cousin Mary Ingersoll, and they later had six sons and two daughters.

In 1795, Nathaniel went to sea making four voyages by 1799. On his fifth voyage, in 1802, Nathaniel was in command of the merchant chip and also was joint owner. Four of the voyages were to the East Indies, while one was to Europe. During this time when Nathaniel was constantly on the seas, he never once put his studies to the side.

In 1799, with the collaboration of his brother, the first American edition of Moore’s Practical Navigator was published with many corrections to Moore’s work. Nathaniel greatly enjoyed computing complex mathematical computations, checking, and correcting Moore’s work. He later published a second edition, but when it was time to publish the third, the name had to be changed. Nathaniel had made so many changes and so greatly changed Moore’s work that it only made sense to change the name and the author. In 1802, Nathaniel published the New American Practical Navigator with his name as the author. Soon, Nathaniel published an article of observations of the moon, and in 1806, he published naval charts of the harbor at Salem and many others. He had a scientific publication on a meteor explosion in 1807 and three papers on the orbits of comets (1815, 1818, 1820). Nathaniel translated the first four volumes of Laplace’s Traite de Mecanique Celeste by 1818, but did not publish them for many more years because he was enhancing and improving it over the years. Nathaniel’s main purpose for translating the text was not merely to have a translation, but to add many missing elements, including adding credits omitted by Laplace. He edited and translated this book in such a way that even the ordinary seaman could use and understand it, and it became known as the seaman’s bible.

In 1799, Nathaniel was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Harvard offered Nathaniel the chair of mathematics and physics, but he decidedly turned it down. He was also admitted to the American Philosophical Society in 1809, both the Royal Societies of Edinburgh and London in 1818, and the Royal Irish Academy in 1819. In 1818, West Point offered him a chair, and also the University of Virginia offered him a chair. He was offered $2000 from Virginia, but that was about 50% less than his salary from the Essex Fire and Marine Insurance Company. He never accepted any of the mathematics chairs he was offered. He later left the Essex Fire and Marine Insurance Company and became an actuary in the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company. He later died on March 16, 1838 in Boston, Massachusetts.

Due to all the additions and contributions Nathaniel Bowditch made, he acquired much international fame, especially by many European scientists. Nathaniel Bowditch was a self-taught man with exceptional mathematical abilities. He was an original and forward thinker, and without his works, who knows where we would be today.

Works Cited

"Nathaniel Bowditch." The History of Mathematics Archive. Aug. 2005. University of St. Andrews. 6 Jan. 2008 .

Nugent, Jim. "Nathaniel Bowditch." Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography. 6 Jan. 2008 .

APOD 3.1

Created by high-speed winds of gas and dust coming from an aging central star at over 600,000 km per hour, the Boomerang Nebulais a symmetric cloud. The "rapid expansion" has cooled molecules within the nebular gas to one degree above absolute zero, which makes it the coldest known region in the Universe. It is believed that the Boomerang Nebula is a star or stellar system developing into a planetary nebula. Shining with light from the central star reflected by dust, the Boomerang Nebula spans around 1 light-year and lies 5,000 light-years away near the constellation Centaurus. This Hubble Image is pretty amazing, especially how it shows the array of colors.