Asteroid (834) Burnhamia

Sherburne Wesley Burnham (December 12, 1838 – March 11, 1921) was an American astronomer. His parents were Roswell O. and Marinda (née Foote) Burnham.

He worked at Yerkes Observatory. All his working life, he served during the day as a court reporter and was an amateur astronomer, except for four years as a full-time astronomer at Lick Observatory.

Continue Reading

Asteroid (1186) Turnera

Herbert Hall Turner (13 August 1861, Leeds – 20 August 1930, Stockholm) was a British astronomer and seismologist.

Herbert Hall Turner was educated at Clifton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1884 he accepted the post of Chief Assistant at Greenwich Observatory and stayed there for nine years. In 1893 he became Savilian Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Observatory at Oxford University, a post he held for 37 years until his sudden death in 1930.

Continue Reading

Asteroid (1886) Lowell

Percival Lawrence Lowell (March 13, 1855 – November 12, 1916) was an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars, founded the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, and formed the beginning of the effort that led to the discovery of Pluto fourteen years after his death. The choice of the name Pluto and its symbol were partly influenced by his initials PL.

Continue Reading

Asteroid (1241) Dysona

Sir Frank Watson Dyson, KBE, FRS (8 January 1868 – 25 May 1939) was an English astronomer and Astronomer Royal who is remembered today largely for introducing time signals ("pips") from Greenwich, England, and for the role he played in testing Einstein's theory of general relativity.

Continue Reading

Asteroid (856) Backlunda

Johan Oskar Backlund (April 28, 1846 – August 29, 1916) was a Swedish-Russian astronomer. His name is sometimes given as Jöns Oskar Backlund, however even contemporary Swedish sources give "Johan". In Russia, where he spent his entire career, he is known as Oskar Andreevich Baklund (Оскар Андреевич Баклунд). Russian sources sometimes give his dates of birth and death as April 16, 1846 and August 16, 1916, in the Julian calendar that was used in Russia during that period.

Continue Reading

Asteroid (233472) Moorcroft

Donald Ross Moorcroft (1935-2015) is a Canadian physicist who did much to advance the field of radar backscatter from the auroral E-region ionosphere. He was the Chair of the Department of Physics of the University of Western Ontario from 1989 to 1998.

Orbit type: Main Belt

Reference: MPC 83584

Continue Reading

Asteroid (204786) Wehlau

William Henry Wehlau (1926–1995) was an American-born Canadian astronomer who pioneered the field of stellar surface mapping using observed rotational variability of surface abundances and magnetic field strength. He served on the Board of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope from 1974 to 1985.

Orbit type: Main Belt

Ref:MPC 83584

Continue Reading

Asteroid (100940) Maunder

 

Continue Reading

1991 Eclipse Quiz

THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA

      1991 SOLAR ECLIPSE EXPEDITION



SOLAR ECLIPSE OUIZ



1.   The term "eclipse" of the sun is actually a complete misnomer for the
     event that we will see tomorrow. The proper name of the phenomenon is
     a(n) _____________________ of the sun.


2.   The English translation of the Latin word that is our name for the sun's
     atmosphere that we see during the total phase of a solar eclipse is
     _______________________.

3.   Annular eclipses are more frequent than total eclipses.  True or false?

Continue Reading

1991-06 Update

1991 SOLAR ECLIPSE EXPEDITION
THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA

26 June 1991

Dear Expedition Member:

          This is the final mailing to all Expedition members before the big
day.  Many of you have been calling over the past 10 days to enquire about
the current status of the Expedition, and I am pleased to report that all of
our planning is proceeding better than we could ever have hoped for.

JUNE SITE PREVIEW TRIP

          On Sunday, 23 June I returned from one week in Mexico with J. Randy
Continue Reading

Pages

Subscribe to RASC RSS