Shoemaker by Levy: The Man Who Made an ImpactPrinceton University Press, 9.2.2021 - 319 sivua It was a lucky twist of fate when in the early1980s David Levy, a writer and amateur astronomer, joined up with the famous scientist Eugene Shoemaker and his wife, Carolyn, to search for comets from an observation post on Palomar Mountain in Southern California. Their collaboration would lead to the 1993 discovery of the most remarkable comet ever recorded, Shoemaker-Levy 9, with its several nuclei, five tails, and two sheets of debris spread out in its orbit plane. A year later, Levy would be by the Shoemakers' side again when their comet ended its four-billion-year-long journey through the solar system and collided with Jupiter in the most stunning astronomical display of the century. Not only did this collision revolutionize our understanding of the history of the solar system, but it also offered a spectacular confirmation of one scientist's life work. As a close friend and colleague of Shoemaker (who died in 1997 at the age of 69), Levy offers a uniquely insightful account of his life and the way it has shaped our thinking about the universe. |
Kirjan sisältä
Tulokset 1 - 5 kokonaismäärästä 48
... telescope on Palomar Mountain north of San Diego , California , the telescope the couple had been using for their comet and asteroid search , might not be reliable . They were looking for a backup telescope , and they thought that with ...
... telescope over to the east and took a brief exposure of the field that contained the new comet . Despite the brightening dawn sky they got a good image and submitted the first accurate positions of my comet . The next month Gene and ...
... telescope on Mount Bigelow near Tucson , although that telescope didn't work out as we had hoped . In July 1989 I began observing regularly with the Shoemakers at Palomar . For perhaps six months of the year , I'd meet them at the ...
... telescope was following , Carolyn was watching the clock to tell me when to end the exposure . We were feeling good since we had just discovered a new asteroid ( to be called 1989 VA ) moving rapidly through the Pleiades cluster . Then ...
... telescope , four hundred miles to the west on Palomar Mountain , also huddled against the wind and snow outdoors . We would not be opening the telescope this night , but thanks to Jim's confirmation , our cometary prey was already in ...
Sisältö
14 | |
1948 | 27 |
A Revolution in Earth | 44 |
Impact | 58 |
19531960 | 69 |
19661968 | 101 |
19681969 | 113 |
19691970 | 126 |
19801995 | 184 |
19841995 | 197 |
1993 | 213 |
1994 | 225 |
19951997 | 241 |
1997 | 251 |
Epilogue | 262 |
Notes | 269 |