She was a first cousin four times removed of Benjamin Franklin. She had
nine brothers
and sisters.
What are some fun facts about Maria Mitchell?
Maria Mitchell
was the first professional female astronomer in the United States
. In 1847, by using a telescope, she discovered a comet which as a result became known as the ‘Miss Mitchell's Comet. ‘ She was awarded a gold medal from the King of Denmark as a result of her discovery.
Did Maria Mitchell have a husband?
Mitchell never married
, but remained close to her immediate family throughout her life, even living in Lynn, Massachusetts with her sister Kate and her family in 1888.
Why did Maria have an observatory named after her?
In 1861, after her mother died, Mitchell moved to Lynn, Massachusetts, with her father. In ill health, she retired from teaching at Vassar in 1888, and died on June 28, 1889. … In
honor of the first female astronomer
, the observatory in Nantucket was named the Maria Mitchell Observatory.
How many sisters did Maria Mitchell have?
She had
nine brothers and sisters
. Her parents, William Mitchell and Lydia Coleman Mitchell, were Quakers. Maria Mitchell was born into a community unusual for its time in regard to equality for women.
Was Maria Mitchell an only child?
She was
the third child and second daughter of ten children
. She was a distant relative of Benjamin Franklin. Her parents, William Mitchell and Lydia Coleman Mitchell were of the Quaker faith and she received a good education.
How do you pronounce Maria Mitchell's name?
Maria Mitchell (pronounced
Ma-RYE-ah
) was an astronomer, librarian, naturalist, and educator. She discovered a telescopic comet in 1847, for which she was awarded a gold medal by the King of Denmark.
What comet did Maria Mitchell discover?
On October 1, 1847, at age 29, Maria Mitchell discovered the comet that would be named
“Miss Mitchell's Comet
,” using a two-inch telescope.
What did Maria Mitchell discover by looking at the night sky with a telescope?
One night in the Autumn of 1847, Maria looked at the sky through the telescope and saw a star five degrees above the North Star where there had been no star before. She had memorized the sky and was sure of her observation. It occurred to her that this might be
a comet
.
What is a telescopic comet?
[¦tel·ə¦skäp·ik ′käm·ət] (astronomy)
A comet in which only the coma is observed.
Who was the first astronomer in the world?
Galileo Galilei
was among the first to use a telescope to observe the sky, and after constructing a 20x refractor telescope. He discovered the four largest moons of Jupiter in 1610, which are now collectively known as the Galilean moons, in his honor.
How did Annie Jump Cannon make the world a better place?
Annie Jump Cannon was the
first astronomer to develop a simple spectral classification system
. She classified 400,000 stars—more than anyone else had achieved previously—and discovered 300 variable stars, five novas, and a double star.
Who was the discoverer of the period luminosity relationship which was used by Edwin Hubble?
Henrietta Swan Leavitt | Known for Leavitt's law: the period-luminosity relationship for Cepheid variables | Scientific career | Fields Astronomy | Institutions Harvard University |
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Is there anything named after Maria Mitchell?
As the first American woman astronomer and an advocate for women, she paved the way for others.
The Maria Mitchell Observatory on Nantucket is named after her
, as is the Mitchell crater on the moon.
Where did Maria Mitchell live as an adult?
Mitchell's accomplishments were subsequently kept in the public eye by feminists, and from 1857 to 1858 she traveled in Europe, meeting many leading scientists. In 1861 she moved with her widowed father to
Lynn, Massachusetts
.
How did Henrietta Swan Leavitt contribute to astronomy?
Henrietta Swan Leavitt's contribution to the field of astronomy is that
she gave us the tools to map out the stars in the universe
. She discovered the correlation between Period and Luminosity. This helped turn the sky into a three-dimensional map allowing astronomers to solve the unknown in the equation: Distance.
Will there be a comet in 2021?
Comet C/2021 A1 — a.k.a. Comet Leonard — will
be visible throughout December 2021 and into early January 2022
. It came closest to the Earth (around 34.9 million kilometers, or 21.7 million miles) on Dec. 12. Comet Leonard will be visible in the evening sky for viewers in both hemispheres.
Why do comets have tails?
Comets leave long beautiful tails when they come close to the sun
. But when it approaches the sun, the heat evaporates the comet's gases, causing it to emit dust and microparticles (electrons and ions). … These materials form a tail whose flow is affected by the sun's radiation pressure.
What comets will be visible in 2021?
2014 UN271 (Bernardinelli-Bernstein) | 2021 A6 (PanSTARRS) 2021 A7 (NEOWISE) 2021 A9 (PanSTARRS) | 2021 A11 (419P/PanSTARRS) 2021 A12 (423P/Lemmon) | 2021 B1 (417P/NEOWISE) 2021 B2 (PanSTARRS) | 2021 C1 (Rankin) 2021 C2 (P/PanSTARRS) 2021 C4 (ATLAS) |
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