10 ? s
Carolyn
Shoemaker
speaks at
the 2010
Green Bank
Starquest
Star Party, in
Green Bank,
West Virginia.
In this recurring feature,
Sky’s Up gives students
the opportunity to ask
10 Questions to leading
astronomers, space
explorers, scientists and
cosmologists.
o o o
The questions for
this installment were
submitted by students
at Castilleja School in
Palo Alto, Calif.
Making her mark
With the discoveries of 32 comets — including the famous
Shoemaker-Levy 9 — and more than 800 asteroids to her name,
Carolyn Shoemaker has definitely made her mark in the field of
astronomy.
This astounding feat is even more impressive when you consider
she didn’t even begin the hunt until she was 51.
In 1980, Mrs. Shoemaker began assisting her husband, Gene, in
his search for near-Earth asteroids. Her work involved analyzing
films or plates for telltale signs of movement that could indicate
an asteroid or a comet. She would look through a stereoscope
at two separate images of the same region of the night sky that
were taken by telescope operators about an hour apart. Viewing
the images simultaneously made moving objects stand out from
the static background, enabling Mrs. Shoemaker to recognize
their potential and pinpoint their location.
On March 24, 1993, she saw the first glimpse of the legendary
Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet while scouring images taken using the
18” telescope at the Palomar Observatory.
“When I first saw it, I wasn’t absolutely sure that it was a comet.
I just didn’t know quite what it was because it was so different
than anything else. I had a feeling of wonderment. A feeling of
what on Earth do we have here,” she said. “We were all puzzled
because it just didn’t look like a regular comet.”
Shoemaker-Levy 9 was definitely not a regular comet. It was
actually a fragmented comet that had broken up into a stream
of 21 chunks that were on a collision course with Jupiter. The
science world exploded with the news that humanity would
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COURTESY OF
Terry Mann
1
I entered the field of astronomy
at age 51 for several reasons. My
children were grown and had left
home to do their own thing. They
no longer needed my attention.
I felt that I needed something
of consequence to do and was
somewhat familiar with my husband’s
work in searching for near Earth
asteroids. I could try my hand at
some of it and feel my way along.
2
Carolyn Shoemaker reflects
on decades of discovery
finally have the chance to witness the cataclysmic effects of
the collision of two solar system objects in real time. On July
16, 1994, the pieces of the comet that the Shoemakers had
co-discovered with David Levy began to slam into Jupiter as the
world watched. Telescopes around and above the globe were
able to capture the stunning event, and our view of the solar
system was changed forever.
While SL9 was certainly a pinnacle moment for Mrs. Shoemaker,
her career has been filled with accolades. They have included
receiving an honorary doctorate of science from Northern
Arizona University, being named co-recipient of the Rittenhouse
Medal in 1988 and being awarded the NASA Exceptional Scientific
Achievement Medal in 1996.
Now 88, Mrs. Shoemaker stepped away from the stereoscope
years ago, but her interest and influence in the astronomy field
has not faltered. For many astronomers of all ages, she features
prominently on their list of inspirations.
“I think it’s wonderful if I can inspire anyone. I’m a little
surprised. I don’t think of myself as an inspiration but I do know
that if I can inspire any woman to do something in astronomy and
to find the satisfaction that I have, then that gives me a great deal
of satisfaction,” she said. “I have gone to a few star parties, and
I’ve given many talks. If I can interest people in the thought of
astronomy and what it tells us about our Earth and where it came
from, well then, I’m excited about that.”
In this installment of 10 Questions, Shoemaker discusses her
work and the thrill of discovery.
Sky ’ s
Up
What made you enter the
field of astronomy when
you were 51?
What type of astronomy
work do you do, and how
have those tasks evolved
over the decades?
My work in astronomy studies
involved studying both glass plates
and films taken at the telescope
searching for asteroids. When
I found something of interest, I
measured its position in the sky and
reported that to the Minor Planet
Center in Cambridge, Mass. Over
many decades, the use of film and
glass plates has been discontinued.
Today’s observing uses computers
and technology to replace much that
astronomers once did.
3
Sky ’ s
Up
What is your favorite part
of being an astronomer?
My favorite part of being an
astronomer was gazing into space,
either by telescope or in a dome open
to the sky, and wondering about the
enormity of the universe I saw there.
We have a fabulous sky!
IMAGE CREDIT: Gene Shoemaker
Carolyn Shoemaker stands next to the 18-inch Schmidt telescope at Palomar
Observatory.
4
How did it feel when you
discovered your first comet? Did
the excitement of discovering a
comet fade as you found more?
When I discovered my first comet I was terribly
excited, and that feeling has never left me. I
thought that I would never really be able to
discover a comet, and that was because I had
seen the comets on the films that other people
had discovered, and it looked so difficult that I
wasn’t sure I’d ever see anything like that. But I
did. When I did I was so terribly excited, I knew
that that was what I wanted to concentrate on
especially.
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