Fond memories
One clear Skyward evening during the summer of 2019 , I was using Pegasus , one of my childhood friend Carl ’ s telescopes , at our annual Adirondack by David
Astronomy Retreat .
Levy
When my cellphone began to ring , I picked it up with some surprise . At the other end of the line was Carolyn Shoemaker . I was thrilled to hear from her , as it had been some time since our last contact . Carolyn was doing well , except for a mild loss of hearing . She had called to say that since her daughter and son-in-law had moved to New Mexico , she would be living at the Peaks , a comfortable assisted living facility in Flagstaff . My colleague Brent Archinal gave me her cell phone number . I was able to speak with her again a few months later . I wanted to find a way to increase the frequency of our conversations . “ You speak with your brother Richard every Monday ,” Wendee commented , and suggested , “ Why not call Carolyn every Monday as well ? For the next 18 months that ’ s what I did . Carolyn would pick up the phone and announce , “ It is David . It must be Monday !” Wendee would often join the discussion as well . But when I called on Monday , August 9 , no one answered . After repeated tries , her daughter Linda called to say that Carolyn had had a minor fall and was in the hospital . On Thursday evening , August 12 , she went into
4
Carolyn Shoemaker , right , with David and Wendee Levy
respiratory arrest . Carolyn died the next morning at 10:40 A . M . Arizona time . With her husband Gene and the five-year comet and asteroid program we shared , Carolyn was responsible for a very rich period in my life . In fact , virtually every article one reads about the Shoemakers will agree that the discovery and impacts of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 were the most significant part of our professional lives . Carolyn began her observing project a few years after her husband Gene was disqualified as a potential astronaut because of Addison ’ s disease . He decided to go at the problem of impacts , not from studying craters as he walked about on the Moon , but from the opposite direction of the comets and asteroids that collide with the Moon , and with the Earth . Carolyn quickly learned to become proficient at using the
COURTESY OF David Levy
stereomicroscope . She would place two films into the microscope ; they were identical except that the second plate would be about 45 minutes later than the first . The films were almost always identical , except that when an asteroid was moving slowly , it would appear to float above the starry background . Carolyn discovered 377 asteroids this way , each one charted until its orbit round the Sun could be determined accurately . When one included the asteroids for which orbits have not yet been determined , that number rose significantly , according to Carolyn , to about 800 . In 1983 Carolyn discovered the first of her 32 comets . When their colleague Henry Holt joined the following year , the number of new comets rose rapidly . It was only a year or two after that when she surpassed the number of comets another famous astronomer ,