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Kentucky SkyTalk: Keep Looking Up: The Heavenward Herschels

Date:
-
Location:
CP155
Speaker(s) / Presenter(s):
Tim Knauer, University of Kentucky

The Family Herschel, William, Caroline, and John, were the most productive astronomers of their times. They bridged the visual and photographic eras in astronomy, and catalogued thousands of faint, fuzzy objects in the night sky. To the Herschels we owe the terms “infrared,” “asteroid,” and “photography.” William wrote:

“I have looked further into space than ever human being did before me. I have observed stars of which the light, it can be proved, must take two million years to reach the earth.”

And so he did. In this SkyTalk we will visit the highlights of this remarkable family and sample modern images of what they saw in the eyepiece 200 years ago.

Event Series: