DOCSLIB.ORG

Questions to Accompany “Putting Stars in Their Place” Astronomy Magazine, November 2000

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Questions to Accompany “Putting Stars in Their Place” Astronomy Magazine, November 2000 Questions to accompany “Putting Stars In Their Place” Astronomy Magazine, November 2000 1. Human lifetimes are measured in _________ but most stars live for ________ of years. 2. Astronomers in the 1800s could identify the chemical _________ making up a star by looking at its spectra. (A star’s spectrum results from the light from the star being broken up into its component wavelengths with lines resulting indicating what the star is made of and not made of…) 3. The first recorded person to study stars was an Italian Astronomer… he wanted to know if the chemical compositions of stars were as varied as the number of stars out there… the answer was no since all stars could be classified into ____ separate classes ranging from bright, white stars with lots of _________ to faint, reddish stars with lots of _________. 4. This Italian Astronomer decided that the differences in the chemical composition of stars were due to their _________. 5. Some astronomers suspected that the changes in stellar spectra could be not the result of temperature…. Instead they suspected that spectra could change because stars had different ________ ________. 6. What was the major improvement to attempting to index stellar spectra that allowed the compilation of the Draper Catalog? 7. Stellar classification has the distinction of being the first major advance in astronomy in which ______ played a leading role. 8. Pickering and Fleming classified stars ___________ A through Q based upon the strength of the hydrogen lines in the star’s spectrum. 9. What did Antonia Maury notice about the spectra of stars that led her to expand the classification system of Pickering and Fleming? 10. Cannon built upon the work of Pickering, Fleming and Maury by rearranging their stellar sequence listings by concentrating on things other than Hydrogen… she ordered them like this: __ __ __ __ __ __ __ 11. Cannon’s classes rank stars according to color with __ blue stars and __ red stars. 12. Cannon’s classes also correspond to different stellar temperatures… __ stars are the hottest while __ are the coolest (note- the article doesn’t specifically tell you what the coolest classification is but use your head!) 13. Hertzsprung analyzed stars within Cannon’s classes and discovered that they moved at ________ ______ and were at _______ _________ from the Earth. 14. If stars moved rapidly they were ( closer to / farther away from ) the Earth. 15. If stars moved slowly they were ( closer to / farther away from ) the Earth. 16. Whaddaya think will happen to the Earth in about 6 billion years when the sun swells up to become a red giant star? 17. Russell agreed with Hertzsprung and concluded that there were two kinds of stars, _____ and ______. 18. When looking at the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram, what is plotted along the x (horizontal) axis? 19. When looking at the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram, what is plotted along the y (vertical) axis? 20. Write a definition (not found in this article) of the word that you wrote as an answer to number 19. 21. Where can hot and bright stars be found on the HR diagram? 22. Where can cool and dim stars be found on the HR diagram? 23. Whaddaya call that wide strip of stars plotted from upper left to lower right that includes our own sun? 24. What are stars located in the upper right hand corner called? 25. What are stars located in the lower left hand corner called? 26. What makes a white dwarf star shine? I THEIR PLACE Tbecreation oJ tbe Hertzsprung-Russell diagram wasa landmarkadoance in ourunderstandlng of tbe stars, by rlames Trefil Imagine you are being given an important assignmentby a taskmasterwith a strange senseof humor. Your job is to study a forest, but you can only work accordingto a rather bizarre set of rules. For five minutes you can take all the picturesyou want. You can photographthousands of squaremiles of treesin any part of the spectrum.You can look north, east,south, and west.But you are not allowed to touch a tree or leaf, and after your five minutes are up' you can collectno further data. Even with theseconstraints, you could do a pretty good job of figurinq out how the forest worked or reconstructing the life cycle of a pine tree. You would seeseedlings popping up out of the forest floor, mature trees,and dead logs. By seeingtrees in all stagesof growth and death, you could ascer-. tain their life cycles.You would also realize that there are many different kinds of trees - oak, pine, and spruce - and understand how their life cyclesdiffered from one another. It wouldn't be easy.You might find yourself engagedin debateswith other scientistsabout whether oaks and pines were separatespecies or different stagesin the life of a singletree. But in the end, you probably would succeedin your task. While no one would ever try to study a forest this way, astronomers are forced to study starsunder a similar set of rules. The reasonis simple: human lifetimes are measuredin decades,science in centuries,but most starslive for HenryNorris Russell and Ejnar Hertzsprung studied stellar spectra to developthe HR Diagram. Photosol Russelland Hsdzsprung:Aslronomical Society ol ths Pacific/ Backgroundimage:The Observatory ot th€ LJniv€rsltyol lrichigan | ""rRoNoMY | "" ASTRONOMY billions of years.Compared to the lifetimes of stars,the entire record of systematicobservations of the heavensis little more than the blink of an eye. Like the would-be forester,astronomers are armed only with snapshotsof a single moment in the life of the universe. But evenwith theserestrictions, astronomers have pieced togetherthe life cyclesof stars.One of the crucial stepson this road to understanding was the developmentof the Hertzsprung-Russelldiagram. FirstSteps Astronomers at the end of the 1800sknew that starshad a finite lifetime, but they had no idea where stars'energy came from. They could identify some of the chemical elementsin starsby looking at their spectra.They could even measurethe distancesto nearbystars. But they were confronted with a problem - there are many types of stars in the sky. Some stars are white-hot, othersburn a cool red. Some are much biggerthan the sun, othersare much smaller.Like all scientistsconfronting com- plex natural phenomena,their first job was to try to bring someorder to the part of the universethey wereobserving. When scientistsare confronted with a collection of objects,they try to find similarities that allow them to define groupsand differentiateone group from others.In the 1700s, Swedishbiologist Carolus Linnaeus noted that squirrels were more like rabbits than they were like snakes,and that snakes, rabbits,and squirrelswere more like one another than they were like palm'trees.This led him to our presentscheme for classiftingliving thingsbased on genusand species. Harvardastronomers employed the 8-inch Bache refractor to classify The first person to classifr starswas Italian astronomer stars and assemblethe Draper Catalogue.Harvard corese observarory and fesuit priest Angelo Secchi.In the 1860s,he set out "to seeif the compositionof the starsis asvaried asthe starsare until the center liquefied and could contract no more, at innumerable."Working with spectraof 4,000stars, he found which point the star would start to cool off and die. Each star that they could be categorizedinto four separateclasses. would passthrough a given temperature twice - once in the Theseranged from bright, white starswith lots of hydrogen warming phase,and againduring cooling.A given spectrum to faint, reddishstars with lots of carbon. would appear twice in a star's lifetime, corresponding to the Secchifelt (correctly,as it turned out) that thesediffer- two times it reacheda particular temperature. encesarose because his difFerentclasses of stars had different Determining distance,while possiblefor nearby stars,took temperatures.That isn't too surprising.A piece of metal a long time and hadn't been done for many. Similarly, taking placedin a flame first glows dull red, then becomeswhite-hot stellarspectra required that light from an individual star be asits temperaturerises. But astronomersknew the differences isolated,run through a prism,"and allor,Jedto strike a photo- in stellarspectra could also have arisenbecause of different graphic plate. A single exposurecould take anywherefrom chemicalcompositions. This quandary provided one of the minutes to hours, depending on the star's brightness.Again, main battlegroundsfor the remainderof the l9th century. the processwas too laborious to be usedin large-scalesurveys. On one sidestood astronomerswho believedthat all stars havemore or lessthe sameinitial chemicalcomposition, but WomenTake the Lead that their spectrachange as they go through their life cycles. But all this changedin 1886.Harvard College Observa- On the other side were those who argued that different tory, under the direction of Edward Pickering, initiated a groups of starswere made from different collectionsof survey of the spectra of bright stars in the Northern Hemi- chemicals.Astronomers had little understandingof how sphere.Called the Draper Catalogue(after Henry DrapeS a atoms emit light and how conditions in a star might affect pioneer of American astronomy), it was assembledusing a that emission,so resolving this issuewas not a simple matter. new technique.Instead ofisolating the light from eachofthe In the words of American astronomer Walter SydneyAdams, stars in a field to obtain one spectrum per photographic "We can hardly hope to understand the behavior of matter exposure,a prism dispersedthe total light from the fibld. in distant stars when the mechanism of light given out by a Consequently,photos contained multiple bands, with each candle flame is still quite unknown to us." band representingthe spectrumof one star.Spectra of many The debatewas hamperedby other kinds of ignoranceas starscould finally be taken simultaneously.For the first time, well. For example, astronomers who argued that differences stellar classifierscould work with a large database."The in starswere due to evolutionaryprocesses didn't know just Americans," retorted one English astronomer, "have always how that evolution might take place.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Maria Mitchell's Legacy to Vassar College: Then And
    Library and Information Services in Astronomy IV July 2-5, 2002, Prague, Czech Republic B. Corbin, E. Bryson, and M. Wolf (eds) Maria Mitchell's Legacy to Vassar College: Then and Now Flora Grabowska Vassar College Libraries, Poughkeepsie, NY 12604, USA fl[email protected] Abstract. Maria Mitchell became Vassar's first Astronomy Professor and Observatory Director in 1865. Her teaching emphasis on students learning by direct observation and analysis is continued today at Vassar College. Several of her students went on to prominence in astronomy, two of them succeeding her at Vassar. Astronomy majors today, both male and female, consistently achieve success after Vassar, in astronomy as well as in other fields. She encouraged her students to present their findings at scientific meetings and in scientific journals, also encouraged today as undergraduates co-author research papers with faculty members. She insisted on excellent facilities and built up the library collection, maintained today to a standard remarkable for a college of just under 2,500 undergraduate students. 1. Great Beginnings Matthew Vassar was keen to have female teachers at Vassar College (Haight 1916). Maria Mitchell had achieved world fame with her 1847 telescopic discov- ery of a comet and was an excellent choice, becoming Vassar's first astronomy professor in 1865. In a eulogy at her funeral in 1889, Vassar College President Taylor concluded, \She has been an impressive figure in our time, and one whose influence lives." (Taylor 1889) Henry Albers, Vassar's fifth Observatory director (the first male!), referring to our fine facilities today, wrote, \In keeping with the legacy of Maria Mitchell, these facilities enable today's students to learn and apply the most modern astronomical techniques." (Albers 2001, 329) This presentation aims to confirm that the legacy has been self-perpetuating and lives on.
    [Show full text]
  • Antonia Maury, Clasificadora De Estrellas (1866-1952, Estados Unidos)
    Antonia Maury, clasificadora de estrellas (1866-1952, Estados Unidos) Antonia Maury fue una astrónoma importante de finales del siglo XIX. Fue una de las primeras mujeres en publicar un trabajo sobre estrellas con su propio nombre. Sus estudios sirvieron para crear el diagrama HR, el diagrama más importante de la astrofísica estelar. Nació en 1866 en Cold Spring, Nueva York, dentro de una familia acomodada de origen portugués. Su abuelo y su tío materno eran dos astrónomos muy reputados: John William Draper y Henry Draper. Así, Maury y sus hermanos crecieron muy familiarizados con la ciencia desde pequeños. Antonia aspiró a ser astrónoma, y se graduó del Vassar College con una matrícula de honor en astronomía, física y filosofía en 1887. Su mentora fue otra astrónoma importante de la época: Maria Mitchell. En 1887 comenzó a trabajar en el Observatorio de Harvard, y entró a formar parte del grupo de mujeres computadoras de Harvard, un grupo de astrónomas encargadas de la clasificación de las estrellas bajo la dirección de Edward Pickering. Allí se encontró con otros astrónomas importantes de la época: Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Annie Jump Cannon y Williamina Fleming. Maury comenzó determinando el periodo orbital de varias estrellas binarias que giran la una alrededor de la otra, y luego se puso a clasificar estrellas según su espectro. Ahora bien, muy pronto comenzó a tener discrepancias con Pickering, tanto por el sistema de trabajo como el de clasificación estelar. Debido a estas discrepancias con el director, en 1896 dejó el observatorio y fue a trabajar a la escuela Miss Masson de Nueva York dando clases de astronomía y también se encargó de la gestión del Draper Park Museum.
    [Show full text]
  • Women in Astronomy: an Introductory Resource Guide
    Women in Astronomy: An Introductory Resource Guide by Andrew Fraknoi (Fromm Institute, University of San Francisco) [April 2019] © copyright 2019 by Andrew Fraknoi. All rights reserved. For permission to use, or to suggest additional materials, please contact the author at e-mail: fraknoi {at} fhda {dot} edu This guide to non-technical English-language materials is not meant to be a comprehensive or scholarly introduction to the complex topic of the role of women in astronomy. It is simply a resource for educators and students who wish to begin exploring the challenges and triumphs of women of the past and present. It’s also an opportunity to get to know the lives and work of some of the key women who have overcome prejudice and exclusion to make significant contributions to our field. We only include a representative selection of living women astronomers about whom non-technical material at the level of beginning astronomy students is easily available. Lack of inclusion in this introductory list is not meant to suggest any less importance. We also don’t include Wikipedia articles, although those are sometimes a good place for students to begin. Suggestions for additional non-technical listings are most welcome. Vera Rubin Annie Cannon & Henrietta Leavitt Maria Mitchell Cecilia Payne ______________________________________________________________________________ Table of Contents: 1. Written Resources on the History of Women in Astronomy 2. Written Resources on Issues Women Face 3. Web Resources on the History of Women in Astronomy 4. Web Resources on Issues Women Face 5. Material on Some Specific Women Astronomers of the Past: Annie Cannon Margaret Huggins Nancy Roman Agnes Clerke Henrietta Leavitt Vera Rubin Williamina Fleming Antonia Maury Charlotte Moore Sitterly Caroline Herschel Maria Mitchell Mary Somerville Dorrit Hoffleit Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Beatrice Tinsley Helen Sawyer Hogg Dorothea Klumpke Roberts 6.
    [Show full text]
  • Spectroscopy: History 1885-1927
    SPECTROSCOPY: HISTORY 1885-1927 Harvard Observatory director Edward Charles Pickering hired over 80 women as technicians to perform scientific and mathematical calculations by hand. They became known as the “Harvard Computers”. This was more than 40 years before women gained the right to vote. They received global recognition for their contributions that changed the science of astronomy. Due to their accomplishments, they paved the way for other women to work in scientific and engineering careers. WHAT DID THEY DO: They studied glass photographic plates of stellar spectra created by using a spectroscope. Using a simple magnifying glass, they compared Credit: Secrets of the Universe: Space Pioneer, card 48 positions of stars between plates, calculating the temperature and motion of the stars. WHO WERE THEY: They measured the relative brightness of stars and analyzed spectra Some had college degrees, others received on-the job-training. to determine the properties of celestial objects. A few were permitted to receive graduate degrees for their accomplishments. These plates were gathered from observatories in Peru, South Africa, New Zealand, Chile and throughout the USA They worked for 25 cents an hour, six days a week in a small cramped library. Many of these women received numerous awards and honors for Harvard University Plates Stacks Digitization Project their contributions. Noteable among them were: Harvard College Observatory’s Plate Collection (also known as the Plate Stacks) is the world’s largest archive of stellar glass plate negatives. Taken between the mid 1880s and 1989 (with a gap 1953-68) the WILLIAMINA FLEMING (1857-1911) - developed the Pickering- collection grew to 500,000 and is currently being digitized.
    [Show full text]
  • Measure by Measure They Touched the Heaven
    2019 IMEKO TC-4 International Conference on Metrology for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Florence, Italy, December 4-6, 2019 Measure by Measure they touched the heaven Luisa Spairani – Gruppo Astrofili Eporediesi – C.so Vercelli 444 10015 Ivrea – [email protected] Abstract – The measure of distances is a recurring theme in astrophysics. The interpretation of the light Distances in astrophysics are notoriously difficult to coming from a luminous object in the sky can be very calculate. It is possible to use geometric methods to different depending on the distance of the object. Two determine the objects that are in the proximity of the solar stars or galaxies may have a different real brightness, system, we say within a distance of about 150 light-years although they may look similar. The correct measures from us. Beyond it is impossible to use any simple came by women computers a century ago. Special method to calculate distances. And this was the situation mention to Williamina Fleming who supervised an in astronomical research at the beginning of the last observatory for 30 years working on the first system to century. Many new objects had been discovered, but classify stars by spectrum. Antonia Maury helped locate without knowing their distances, it was impossible to put the first double star and developed her classification them in any stellar systems model. At that time, before system. Henrietta Leavitt found a law to determine 1900, it was not known that we live in a galaxy called the stellar distances. The most famous of the Harvard Milky Way, and there are other galaxies.
    [Show full text]
  • Women in Astronomy at Harvard College Observatory
    Discussion Question Answers Strategies and Compromises: Women in Astronomy at Harvard College Observatory 1. What were the differences between the roles of the four women mentioned in the article? - Williamina Fleming started out simply copying and computing, but worked her way up to supervising the other women and classifying solar spectra. - Antonia Maury also classified stellar spectra, but she did so with an advanced system of her own design. The director of the observatory, Pickering, did not like her system and so she left the observatory. - Annie Jump Cannon continued the spectra work of Maury, but used the standard system. She worked for 45 years doing classification work extremely quickly and consistently. - Henrietta Leavitt studied variable stars at first, identifying thousands of new ones. She also did the research assigned to her, which related to determining how stars appeared using different photographic techniques. 2. What are the differences between their attitudes towards the roles they were assigned? - Fleming accepted any work that was asked of her, but expanded the role of women’s work by her competence in accomplishing the tasks. She was privately bitter about the low pay and status of her work. - Maury thought that her intellectual contributions were worthy of credit and regard. She insisted on being recognized in the Observatory’s publications, and she fought for her system, which was based on star’s “natural relations” to be used. However, she did not succeed in getting the system used and so left the observatory. - Cannon did not mind the role she was assigned. She did it so quickly and well she eventually gained recognition and an honorary doctorate for he accomplishments.
    [Show full text]
  • Knowledge Gain in the Age of Hpc and Big Data
    KNOWLEDGE GAIN IN THE AGE OF HPC AND BIG DATA SUSANNEPFALZNER SECOND BIG DATA CHALLENGE Efficiency around 1% • Extremely high efficiency most of the photons lost! at redder wavebands -- almost 100%! • Limiting magnitudes increased by four to five magnitudes! Output is digital 2 DATAWORKFLOWS Combining different wavelength Final image Data e.g. Machine reduction Combining learning single Original telescopes Astrophysical data Object 3 DATA FLOOD Second data release of Gaia 0.9 billion individual CCD observations per day •celestial positions 1.3 billion sources •stellar effective temperature, extinction, reddening, and radius and luminosity for 161 million sources Each of these needs multiple data processing AIM: high-value knowledge out of data is 4 OBSERVER Photographer Data Scientist Theoretician ? 5 ASTROPHYSICAL SIMULATIONS Observations provide only snapshots at a certain moment in time Theory (simulation) must create time sequence Several theories – Which is the right one? Predictions from theory tested by observations 6 ASTROPHYSICAL SIMULATIONS Challenges • steep spatial gradients, complex geometries, etc. (1 AU – 20 000 000 AU) But also, • often very different time scales years – several million years (Myr) • No direct comparison with experiment 7 SIM AND DATA LAB ASTRO OBSERVATIONS VS. SIMULATIONS Comparison between TWO SIMULATIONS observational data theoretical models „It looks the same“, is not enough! 9 FIRST BIG DATA CHALLENGE Photographic plates Direct image First objective, permanent record of astronomical phenomena 10 FIRST COMPUTERS ...the amount of astronomical data was surpassing the capacity of the Observatories to process it Pickering and his Computers standing in front of Building C at the Harvard College Observatory, 13 May 1913 11 BEYOND PROCESSING DATA ..
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 9: the Life of a Star
    Chapter 9: The Life of a Star Introduction Massive stars explode when they die, releasing as much light as an entire galaxy of stars. Such an explosion is called a supernova. It can catapult a star from obscurity to spectacular prominence in the night sky. A supernova that occurred in the year 1006 (SN 1006) shone so brightly that objects could be seen by its light for weeks. A Muslim astrologer, Ali ibn Ridwan of Cairo, recorded the event. So did a monk named Hepidannus, of St. Gall, Switzerland. The records of these two men locate SN 1006 in the direction of the constellation Lupus in the Southern Hemisphere. Japanese and Chinese sources more precisely locate the supernova near kappa Lupi and one degree west of beta Lupi. It was the The Crab Nebula and Pulsar Composite Image (Chandra, Hubble, Spitzer) brightest star observed in all of recorded history. It was probably visible for three months during daylight, and only after three years did it fade below naked-eye visibility at night. The remnant left behind from the explosion has a low luminosity and large size, and is the faintest remnant of the five well-established historical supernovae seen during the last one thousand years. The remnant emits in the radio and X-ray bands and is thought to be 2300 light-years away. On July 4, 1054, Chinese and Japanese astronomers recorded a bright star in the constellation Taurus which had not been visible before. At maximum brightness it was comparable to Jupiter, and remained visible to the unaided eye for 653 days in the night sky.
    [Show full text]
  • Arxiv:0911.5028V2 [Astro-Ph.SR] 25 Dec 2009 03Zrc,Switzerland Zurich, 8093 H Nvriyo Rzn N H Mtsna Institution
    Discovery of a Faint Companion to Alcor Using MMT/AO 5 µm Imaging1 Eric E. Mamajek University of Rochester, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Rochester, NY, 14627-0171, USA Matthew A. Kenworthy, Philip M. Hinz, Michael R. Meyer2 Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona, 933 N. Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA Received ; accepted Accepted for publication in Astronomical Journal arXiv:0911.5028v2 [astro-ph.SR] 25 Dec 2009 1Observations reported here were obtained at the MMT Observatory, a joint facility of the University of Arizona and the Smithsonian Institution. 2Current address: Institute for Astronomy ETH, Physics Department, HIT J 22.4, CH- 8093 Zurich, Switzerland –2– ABSTRACT We report the detection of a faint stellar companion to the famous nearby A5V star Alcor (80 UMa). The companion has M-band (λ = 4.8 µm) magni- tude 8.8 and projected separation 1”.11 (28 AU) from Alcor. The companion is most likely a low-mass (∼0.3 M⊙) active star which is responsible for Alcor’s 28.3 X-ray emission detected by ROSAT (LX ≃ 10 erg/s). Alcor is a nuclear mem- ber of the Ursa Major star cluster (UMa; d ≃ 25 pc, age ≃ 0.5 Gyr), and has been occasionally mentioned as a possible distant (709”) companion of the stellar quadruple Mizar (ζ UMa). Comparing the revised Hipparcos proper motion for Alcor with the mean motion for other UMa nuclear members shows that Alcor has a peculiar velocity of 1.1 km/s, which is comparable to the predicted velocity amplitude induced by the newly-discovered companion (∼1 km/s).
    [Show full text]
  • Legitimating Astronomy
    University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016 University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2004 Legitimating Astronomy Graham Howard University of Wollongong Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses University of Wollongong Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. The University does not authorise you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site. You are reminded of the following: This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this work may be reproduced by any process, nor may any other exclusive right be exercised, without the permission of the author. Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. A reproduction of material that is protected by copyright may be a copyright infringement. A court may impose penalties and award damages in relation to offences and infringements relating to copyright material. Higher penalties may apply, and higher damages may be awarded, for offences and infringements involving the conversion of material into digital or electronic form. Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong. Recommended Citation Howard, Graham, Legitimating Astronomy , PhD thesis, School of Social Science, Media and Communication, University of Wollongong, 2004. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/333 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong.
    [Show full text]
  • Pioneering Women in the Spectral Classification of Stars
    Phys. perspect. 4 (2002) 370–398 © Birkha¨user Verlag, Basel, 2002 1422–6944/02/040370–29 Pioneering Women in the Spectral Classification of Stars E. Dorrit Hoffleit* Spectra reveal more about the constitution of stars than can be ascertained by any other means. About 1867 Angelo Secchi classified stellar spectra into five distinct categories. No significant improvements in his system could be made until the advent of dry-plate photography. Then both Henry Draper in New York and Edward C. Pickering at Harvard began taking hundreds of spectrum plates. After Draper’s death in 1882, his widow endowed The Henry Draper Memorial at Harvard for the analysis of stellar spectra. Pickering then employed mainly women to help him devise a more detailed system of classification than Secchi’s. Ultimately, the most appreciated lady became the one who dutifully carried out the routine work of classifying exactly as she was told, while another slowly made independent new discoveries that Pickering would not accept even after other astronomers proved them to be highly significant. Key words: Stellar spectra; HD system; MK system; stellar magnitude; Annie J. Cannon; Henry Draper; Anna Palmer Draper; Williamina Payton Fleming; Ejnar Hertzsprung; Antonia C. DeP. P. Maury; Edward C. Pickering. Introduction: Historical Background I am thoroughly in favor of employing women as measurers and computers and I think their services might well be extended to other departments. Not only are women available at smaller salaries than are men, but for routine work they have important advantages. Men are more likely to grow impatient after the novelty of the work has worn off and would be harder to retain for that reason.
    [Show full text]
  • Williamina Fleming: "Women's Work" at the Harvard Observatory
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Women's Studies Quarterly Archives and Special Collections 1978 Williamina Fleming: "Women's Work" at the Harvard Observatory Anne Gordon How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/wsq/268 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Anne Gordon acclaim, while their trailblazing scientific Williamina Paton Fleming (1857-1911) Williamina Heming: discoveries often received scant recognition. was the first of Pickering's women assist- "Women's Work" at the I found that although these women were ants to assume more than clerical responsi- exploited by modern standards, they Harvard Observatory bilities. When her husband had left her, gained unusual responsibility and success Fleming had taken a job as the Pickerings' From time to time, we have published by the standards of their own time; and I maid; Professor Pickering recognized her the work of students in women's studies found that women astronomers still face intelligence and offered her work at the courses. The following essay, originally real discrimination and difficult choices. Observatory, where she gradually became written as a term paper, is such a piece. his administrative assistant. I. Women's Work Fleming supervised the women working Last spring, I fulfilled Harvard's freshman on the Henry Draper Memorial, created in Expository Writing requirement by taking ... Women prove themselves more compe- 1886, and she handled much of its day-to- the section Women in American History .
    [Show full text]