E. E. Barnard
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Edward Emerson Barnard (December 16, 1857 – February 6, 1923) was an American astronomer. He was commonly known as E. E. Barnard, and was recognized as a gifted observational astronomer. He is best known for his discovery of the high proper motion of Barnard's Star in 1916, which is named in his honor.


Early life

Barnard was born in Nashville, Tennessee, to Reuben Barnard and Elizabeth Jane Barnard (''née'' Haywood), and had one brother. His father died three months before his birth, so he grew up in an impoverished family and did not receive much in the way of formal education. His first interest was in the field of photography, and he became a photographer's assistant at the age of nine. He later developed an interest in astronomy. In 1876 he purchased a
refractor A refracting telescope (also called a refractor) is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens (optics), lens as its objective (optics), objective to form an image (also referred to a dioptrics, dioptric telescope). The refracting telescope d ...
telescope, and in 1881 he discovered his first comet, but failed to announce his discovery. He found his second comet later the same year and a third in 1882. While he was still working at a photography studio he was married to the British-born Rhoda Calvert in 1881. In the 1880s, Hulbert Harrington Warner offered US$200 per discovery of a new comet. Barnard discovered a total of five, and used the money to build a house for himself and his wife. With his name being brought to the attention of amateur astronomers in Nashville, they collectively raised enough money to give Barnard a fellowship to Vanderbilt University. He never graduated from the school, but did receive the only honorary degree Vanderbilt has ever awarded. He joined the staff of the
Lick Observatory The Lick Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the University of California. It is on the summit of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California, United States. The observatory is managed by th ...
in 1887, though he later clashed with the director,
Edward S. Holden Edward Singleton Holden (November 5, 1846 – March 16, 1914) was an American astronomer and the fifth president of the University of California. Early years He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1846 to Edward and Sarah Frances (Singleton) H ...
, over access to observing time on the larger instruments and other issues of research and management.


Astronomical work

Barnard saw the gegenschein in 1882, not aware of earlier papers by Theodor Brorsen and T. W. Backhouse. In 1889 he observed the moon
Iapetus In Greek mythology, Iapetus (; ; grc, Ἰαπετός, Iapetós), also Japetus, is a Titan, the son of Uranus and Gaia and father of Atlas, Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Menoetius. He was also called the father of Buphagus and Anchiale in other ...
pass behind Saturn's rings. As he watched Iapetus pass through the space between Saturn's innermost rings and the planet itself, he saw a shadow pass over the moon. Although he did not realize it at the time, he had discovered proof of the " spokes" of
Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...
, dark shadows running perpendicular to the circular paths of the rings. These spokes were doubted at first, but confirmed by the spacecraft '' Voyager 1''. In 1892 he made observations of a
nova A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...
and was the first to notice the gaseous emissions, thus deducing that it was a stellar explosion. The same year he also discovered Amalthea, the fifth moon of Jupiter. He was the first to discover a new moon of Jupiter since Galileo Galilei in 1609. This was the last satellite discovered by visual observation (rather than by examining photographic plates or other recorded images). In 1895 he joined the University of Chicago as professor of astronomy. There he was able to use the telescope at Yerkes Observatory. Much of his work during this period was taking
photograph A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...
s of the Milky Way. Together with
Max Wolf Maximilian Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf (21 June 1863 – 3 October 1932) was a German astronomer and a pioneer in the field of astrophotography. He was the chairman of astronomy at the University of Heidelberg and director of the Heidelberg-Kà ...
, he discovered that certain dark regions of the
galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...
were actually clouds of gas and dust that obscured the more distant stars in the background. From 1905, his niece
Mary R. Calvert Mary Ross Calvert (June 20, 1884 – June 25, 1974) was an American astronomical computer and astrophotographer. She started as her uncle Edward Emerson Barnard's assistant and ended publishing his (and their) work that cataloged over 300 dark o ...
worked as his assistant and
computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...
. The faint Barnard's Star is named for Edward Barnard after he discovered in 1916 that it had a very large
proper motion Proper motion is the astrometric measure of the observed changes in the apparent places of stars or other celestial objects in the sky, as seen from the center of mass of the Solar System, compared to the abstract background of the more dista ...
, relative to other stars. This is the second nearest star system to the Sun, second only to the
Alpha Centauri Alpha Centauri ( Latinized from α Centauri and often abbreviated Alpha Cen or α Cen) is a triple star system in the constellation of Centaurus. It consists of 3 stars: Alpha Centauri A (officially Rigil Kentaurus), Alpha Centaur ...
system. He was also a pioneering astrophotographer. His
Barnard Catalogue The astronomer Edward Emerson Barnard compiled a list of dark nebulae known as the ''Barnard Catalogue of Dark Markings in the Sky'', or the ''Barnard Catalogue'' for short. The nebulae listed by Barnard have become known as Barnard objects. A 1919 ...
lists a series of
dark nebula A dark nebula or absorption nebula is a type of interstellar cloud, particularly molecular clouds, that is so dense that it obscures the visible wavelengths of light from objects behind it, such as background stars and emission or reflection nebu ...
e, known as Barnard objects, giving them numerical designations akin to the Messier catalog. They begin with and end with . He published his initial list with the 1919 paper in the '' Astrophysical Journal,''
On the Dark Markings of the Sky with a Catalogue of 182 such Objects
. He died on February 6, 1923, in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, and was buried in Nashville. After his death, many examples from his exceptional collection of astronomical photographs were published in 1927 as ''A Photographic Atlas of Selected Regions of the Milky Way'', this work having been finished by Mary R. Calvert, and
Edwin B. Frost Edwin Brant Frost II (July 14, 1866 – May 14, 1935) was an American astronomer. Biography He was born in Brattleboro, Vermont. His father, Carlton Pennington Frost, was dean of Dartmouth Medical School. Frost graduated from Dartmouth in ...
, then director of Yerkes Observatory.


Comet discoveries

Between 1881 and 1892, he discovered 15 comets, three of which were periodic, and co-discovered two others: * C/1881 did not announce * C/1881 S1 * C/1882 R2 * D/1884 O1 (Barnard 1) * C/1885 N1 * C/1885 X2 * C/1886 T1 Barnard-Hartwig * C/1887 B3 * C/1887 D1 * C/1887 J1 * C/1888 U1 * C/1888 R1 * C/1889 G1 *
177P/Barnard Comet 177P/Barnard, also known as Barnard 2, is a periodic comet with an orbital period of 122 years. It fits the classical definition of a Halley-type comet with (20 years <
C/1891 F1 Barnard-Denning * C/1891 T1 * D/1892 T1 (Barnard 3) – First comet to be discovered by photography; recovered in late 2008 as 206P/Barnard-Boattini


Honors

Awards * Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1892) * Lalande Prize (1892) * Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1897) *Member of the American Philosophical Society (1903) *
Prix Jules Janssen The Prix Jules Janssen is the highest award of the Société astronomique de France (SAF), the French astronomical society. This annual prize is given to a professional French astronomer or to an astronomer of another nationality in recognition ...
, the highest award of the
Société astronomique de France The Société astronomique de France (SAF; ), the French astronomical society, is a non-profit association in the public interest organized under French law (Association loi de 1901). Founded by astronomer Camille Flammarion in 1887, its purpose ...
, the French astronomical society (1906) * Bruce Medal (1917) Named after him *
Barnard (lunar crater) Barnard is a Lunar craters, lunar impact crater that is located near the eastern limb of the Moon. It is attached to the southeast rim of the large crater Humboldt (crater), Humboldt, and Abel (crater), Abel lies directly to the south. To the nor ...
* Barnard (crater on Mars) *
Barnard Regio Barnard is a version of the surname Bernard, which is a French language, French and West Germanic masculine given name and surname. The surname means as tough as a bear, Bar(Bear)+nard/hard(hardy/tough) __NOTOC__ People Some of the people bearin ...
on Ganymede *
Asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...
819 Barnardiana 819 Barnardiana is a minor planet orbiting the Sun, discovered on March 3, 1916, by the German astronomer Max Wolf in Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, Germa ...
* NGC 6822 Barnard's Galaxy * Barnard's Loop * Barnard's Star *Barnard Hall, a residence hall at Vanderbilt University * Barnard Astronomical Society, Chattanooga's astronomy club * Mount Barnard in California *The
Central of New Jersey Railroad The Central Railroad of New Jersey, also known as the Jersey Central or Jersey Central Lines , was a Class I railroad with origins in the 1830s. It was absorbed into Conrail in April 1976 along with several other prominent bankrupt railroads of ...
's deluxe passenger train, the Blue Comet, featured a baggage car named after "Barnard". The train ran from 1929 to 1941.


See also

*
Barnard 33 ''033'' or ''Zero Three Three'' is a 2010 Bengali film directed by Birsa Dasgupta in a directorial debut and produced by Moxie Entertainments. It stars Rudranil Ghosh and Parambrato Chattopadhyay. 033 is the STD code for Kolkata city, and the ...
, (Horsehead Nebula) *
Barnard 68 Barnard 68 is a molecular cloud, dark absorption nebula or Bok globule, towards the southern constellation Ophiuchus and well within the Milky Way galaxy at a distance of about 500 light-years, so close that not a single star can be seen between ...
* John Byrne *
California Nebula The California Nebula ( NGC 1499/ Sh2-220) is an emission nebula located in the constellation Perseus. Its name comes from its resemblance to the outline of the US State of California in long exposure photographs. It is almost 2.5° long on the ...
* :Barnard objects * :Discoveries by Edward Emerson Barnard


References


Further reading

*


External links


Biography

Edward Emerson Barnard Papers at Vanderbilt University Special Collections and University Archives

Edward Emerson Barnard's Photographic Atlas of Selected Regions of the Milky WayNational Academy of Sciences Biographical MemoirPortraits of Edward Emerson Barnard from the Lick Observatory Records Digital Archive, UC Santa Cruz Library's Digital Collections

Guide to the Edward Emerson Barnard Papers 1846-1926
from th
University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnard, Edward Emerson 1857 births 1923 deaths 19th-century American astronomers 20th-century American astronomers Discoverers of comets Discoverers of moons Vanderbilt University alumni Recipients of the Bruce Medal Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Williams Bay, Wisconsin Recipients of the Lalande Prize Members of the American Philosophical Society