Astronomer Caroline Herschel was born #OTD in 1750. She discovered and catalogued a wealth of comets, stars, and nebulae. Along with Mary Somerville, she was the first woman elected to the Royal Astronomical Society. 🧪🔭👩‍🔬 Image: Artist's impression of a young Caroline Herschel. Lisa Rosowsky / CfA - ThreadSky

mcnees.bsky.social • 25 days ago

Astronomer Caroline Herschel was born #OTD in 1750. She discovered and catalogued a wealth of comets, stars, and nebulae. Along with Mary Somerville, she was the first woman elected to the Royal Astronomical Society. 🧪🔭👩‍🔬

Image: Artist's impression of a young Caroline Herschel. Lisa Rosowsky / CfA

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rayosunlong.bsky.social•25 days ago

Great woman, awful painting.

quadrotriticale.bsky.social•25 days ago

I remember reading about her in "The Age of Wonder" by Richard Holmes. She really was an impressive woman.

northernping.bsky.social•24 days ago

I loved reading that book ..to bad I don't seem to find peace of mind lately to just pick up a book and read..

sciarthum.bsky.social•25 days ago

Outstanding! Now let's talk about Clara Wieck Schumann. "Wieck/weak" she was not. Hot pianist and composer who received the Emperor's Königliche und Kaiserliche Österreichische Kammer-virtuosin award that Liszt wished for. Outlived her husband, Robert, and raised a bunch of kids, too.

mcnees.bsky.social•25 days ago

Caroline Herschel carried out a systematic survey of the sky with her brother William. “The Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars" was published under his name in 1786. (2/n)

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rstl.1786.0027

mcnees.bsky.social•25 days ago

The catalog went through several editions, adding more and more star clusters and deep sky objects. Expanded and revised first by Caroline's nephew John and then by John Louis Emil Dreyer, it became the basis for the New General Catalogue. (3/n)

mcnees.bsky.social•25 days ago

When you see a deep sky object designated NGC, that’s a reference to the New General Catalog, the descendant of the Herschel sibling’s original survey.

For example, NGC 2360 is a lovely little open cluster that Caroline Herschel discovered in February of 1783. (4/n)

Image: Sloan Digital Sky Survey

mcnees.bsky.social•25 days ago

Caroline Herschel made her first comet discovery on August 1st of 1786, using a small (4.2") Newtonian telescope. Her observations were read before the Royal Society in November, and published in Philosophical Transactions on January 1st. (5/n)

mcnees.bsky.social•25 days ago

Between 1788 and 1797 she would discover another seven comets. Even before that, she had found a number of previously unknown deep sky objects. By her count, Caroline Herschel had observed 14 new nebulae by the end of 1783. (6/n)

mcnees.bsky.social•25 days ago

William Herschel was appointed "King's Astronomer" by George III in 1782, after his discovery of the planet Uranus. Caroline, as his collaborator and assistant, was also given a salary to support her astronomical work. (7/n)

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