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From the moon landing to the International Space Station, scientists at the Marshall Space Flight Center have been at the forefront of research and development of space transport systems and related technologies. Their Saturn rockets were crucial to…

Daniel Kirkwood was an American mathematician who used mathematics to derive theories based on the work of astronomers. He was the first to suggest that meteor showers were composed of debris from comets. He also developed a theory known as…

Following military service in World War I, Edwin Hubble accepted a position at Mount Wilson Observatory. His discoveries there included proving that nebulae were galaxies rather than simple clouds of gas and dust. His greatest discovery was that all…

The first four satellites of Jupiter were discovered by Galileo in 1610. Edward Emerson Barnard discovered the fifth shortly after midnight on September 9, 1892. Fifth in order of discovery and third in distance from the planet, Amalthea was the last…

In the 1920s, astronomer Edwin Hubble corresponded with astronomer Edwin Emerson Barnard to seek his expert advice on stellar photography. This photograph of the spiral galaxy NGC 3596 in the constellation Leo was taken by Hubble on February 16,…

Frank McConnell and Edward Emerson Barnard were both founding members of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, founded in San Francisco in 1889 while Barnard was affiliated with the Lick Observatory. Barnard’s discovery of another moon of Jupiter,…

Frank McConnell and Edward Emerson Barnard were both founding members of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, founded in San Francisco in 1889 while Barnard was affiliated with the Lick Observatory. Barnard’s discovery of another moon of Jupiter,…

On September 2, 1908, astronomer Daniel Morehouse - studying and photographing comets with Edward Emerson Barnard at Yerkes Observatory - discovered a comet near Cassiopeia. Close observation of the comet by Barnard led to speculation that the tails…

After Albert Einstein (1879-1955) published his theory of relativity, a number of observatories attempted to prove the theory based on Einstein’s calculations which predicted the gravitational bending of light passing a large body such as the Sun.…

Joseph S. Carels, an assistant postmaster in Nashville who befriended Edward Emerson Barnard as a child in Nashville, remained a friend of the noted astronomer throughout his life. A congratulatory letter to Barnard on his discovery of Amalthea…