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EI2GYB > ASTRO 24.08.21 13:32l 87 Lines 4848 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Carolyn S. Shoemaker returns to the stars
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Sent: 210824/1128Z 13544@EI2GYB.DGL.IRL.EURO BPQK6.0.16
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Carolyn S. Shoemaker returns to the stars
stronomy lost a towering figure on Aug. 13 when Carolyn Shoemaker,
ne of the preeminent comet and asteroid hunters of her generation,
ied at age 92.
Shoemaker didnâ€Öt take the most conventional path to studying the
osmos â€ö she began studying astronomy at the age of 51. But by
he time of her passing, she had left her mark, discovering or
o-discovering 32 comets and over 800 asteroids. Among them was
ne of the most famous comets of all time, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
D/1993 F2), which plowed into Jupiter in 1994. At the same time,
hoemaker also blazed a path for other women to enter the sciences.
Although there was no immediate public confirmation of Shoemakerâ€Ös
eath, word spread quickly through the astronomy community.
er passing was acknowledged in a statement from the Lunar and
lanetary Institute (LPI) on Aug. 17. “She was smart, witty,
nd just so practical,” said LPI director Lisa Gaddis. “She was
n example to younger women and budding scientists everywhere as
omeone who made a difference in her own way.”
Path to the stars *
Shoemaker grew up in Chico, California and didnâ€Öt have any particular
nterest in space or even science. At Chico State College, she got her
achelorâ€Ös and masterâ€Ös degrees in history and political science.
t a loss for what to do post-graduation, she attempted teaching per
er motherâ€Ös suggestion but quickly discovered she wasnâ€Öt a good fit
or the position.
At her brotherâ€Ös wedding in 1950, she met her future husband Gene Shoemaker,
ho was then working on a Ph.D. in metamorphic petrology at Princeton
niversity. For a year the two wrote letters to each other, falling in love.
n August 1951, they married and moved to Flagstaff, Arizona where they
raised three children and Gene Shoemaker established the U.S. Geological
urvey (USGS) Center for Astrogeology.
Prior to her marriage, Shoemaker had taken one geology course and hated it,
ut in a USGS biography, she said “listening to Gene explaining geology
ade what she had thought was a boring subject into an exciting and
nteresting pursuit of knowledge.” So, around 1980, when their children
ad grown up and Shoemaker was looking for something else to devote her
ime to, she joined her husband on a new project of his at
alomar Observatory.
This first of its kind program was dedicated to looking for near
arth asteroids. While Shoemakerâ€Ös first reaction, as she stated in a
017 interview with radio station KNAU, was, “I donâ€Öt think so, Iâ€Öve
ever stayed awake at night in my life,” she began looking at photographs
n glass plates of the night sky at the California Institute of
echnology and quickly found it to require patience and attention
o fine detail, something she believed motherhood had perfectly
repared her for.
Comet hunter *
In 1983, when she was in her mid 50s, she discovered her first comet.
€śIt was a really exciting, thrilling experience, because I didnâ€Öt think
would ever find a comet,” she said. Though Shoemaker went on to find
2 comets, holding the record as the most comets discovered by a single
erson for a time, her most famous came in 1993. “I was scanning the
ilm, and then I came across this fuzzy object.” Entirely unlike any
omet she had seen before, the object had been captured by Jupiter and
orn to pieces â€ö and those pieces were on a collision course with the
as giantâ€Ös surface. Named Shoemaker-Levy 9 for its discoverers â€ö
he Shoemakers and their colleague David Levy â€ö the comet rained
own on the jovian atmosphere for six days and was the first ever
bserved collision between such massive objects in the solar system.
Even after her husbandâ€Ös death in 1997, she continued to observe.
My real love for the night skies developed while observing at
alomar Observatory in California, and that love has never diminished."
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