Frequency | 10 per year |
---|---|
Founded | 1893 |
First issue | September 1893 |
Final issue | 1951 |
Country | United States |
Based in | Northfield, Minnesota |
Language | English |
Popular Astronomy is an American magazine published by John August Media, LLC and hosted at TechnicaCuriosa.com for amateur astronomers. Prior to its revival in 2009, the title was published between 1893 and 1951. [1] It was the successor to The Sidereal Messenger , which was published from March 1882 to 1892. [1] The first issue of Popular Astronomy appeared in September 1893. [2] Each yearly volume of Popular Astronomy contained 10 issues, [1] for a total of 59 volumes.
The first editor, from 1893–1909, was William W. Payne of Carleton College, [2] with Charlotte R. Willard as co-editor 1893–1905. Payne was followed by Herbert C. Wilson, who served in the post between 1909 and 1926. [2] Dr. Curvin Henry Gingrich, Professor of Mathematics and Astronomy at Carleton, served as the final editor for the initial publication run, which ended with his sudden death (by heart attack) in 1951. Dr. Gingrich received a six page eulogy written by Dr. Frederick C. Leonard, in the August 1951 issue of the magazine.
The magazine played an important role in the development of amateur variable star observing in the United States. [3]
In 2017 Popular Astronomy has returned as part of TechnicaCuriosa.com, along with sister titles Popular Electronics and Mechanix Illustrated.
Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomers make contributions in doing citizen science, such as by monitoring variable stars, double stars, sunspots, or occultations of stars by the Moon or asteroids, or by discovering transient astronomical events, such as comets, galactic novae or supernovae in other galaxies.
Mira variables are a class of pulsating stars characterized by very red colours, pulsation periods longer than 100 days, and amplitudes greater than one magnitude in infrared and 2.5 magnitude at visual wavelengths. They are red giants in the very late stages of stellar evolution, on the asymptotic giant branch (AGB), that will expel their outer envelopes as planetary nebulae and become white dwarfs within a few million years.
Helen Battles Sawyer Hogg was an American-Canadian astronomer who pioneered research into globular clusters and variable stars. She was the first female president of several astronomical organizations and a scientist when many universities would not award scientific degrees to women. Her scientific advocacy and journalism included astronomy columns in the Toronto Star and the Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. She was considered a "great scientist and a gracious person" over a career of sixty years.
The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) is an international nonprofit organization. Founded in 1911, the organization focuses on coordinating, analyzing, publishing, and archiving variable star observations made largely by amateur astronomers. The AAVSO creates records that establish light curves depicting the variation in brightness of a star over time. The AAVSO makes these records available to professional astronomers, researchers, and educators.
Charles Dillon Perrine was an American astronomer at the Lick Observatory in California (1893-1909) who moved to Cordoba, Argentina to accept the position of Director of the Argentine National Observatory (1909-1936). The Cordoba Observatory under Perrine's direction made the first attempts to prove Einstein's theory of relativity by astronomical observation of the deflection of starlight near the Sun during the solar eclipse of October 10, 1912 in Cristina (Brazil), and the solar eclipse of August 21, 1914 at Feodosia, Crimea, Russian Empire. Rain in 1912 and clouds in 1914 prevented results.
Clinton Banker Ford was an American investor, musician and amateur astronomer specializing in the observation of variable stars.
The British Astronomical Association (BAA) was formed in 1890 as a national body to support the UK's amateur astronomers.
William Tyler Olcott was an American lawyer and amateur astronomer.
Astronomy is a monthly American magazine about astronomy. Targeting amateur astronomers, it contains columns on sky viewing, reader-submitted astrophotographs, and articles on astronomy and astrophysics for general readers.
The SuperNova Early Warning System (SNEWS) is a network of neutrino detectors designed to give early warning to astronomers in the event of a supernova in the Milky Way, our home galaxy, or in a nearby galaxy such as the Large Magellanic Cloud or the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy.
Goodsell Observatory is an observatory at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, United States. It was constructed in 1887 and was, at the time, the largest observatory in the state of Minnesota. The Goodsell Observatory and its predecessor, a smaller observatory that opened in 1878, served as a widely consulted timekeeping station, bringing national prominence to Carleton College in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Astronomy Now is a monthly British magazine on astronomy and space. According to the Royal Astronomical Society, Astronomy Now is the "principal amateur astronomy magazine in Britain" with a reputed circulation of 24,000.
V Cephei is a white main sequence star in the constellation Cepheus. It only varies slightly by 0.03 of a magnitude. It was suspected of being variable by American astronomer Seth Carlo Chandler noting in 1890 that it varied by 0.7 magnitude but that it needed more confirmation. Subsequent observers were divided in whether they noted variability or not. A subsequent study with photoelectric photometry showed no variability.
24 Persei is a star in the northern constellation of Perseus, located around 337 light years from the Sun. It is visible to the naked eye as a faint, orange-hued star with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.94. The object is moving closer to the Earth with a heliocentric radial velocity of −37 km/s.
T Ursae Minoris is a variable star in the constellation Ursa Minor, located 2′30″ west-southwest of 3 Ursae Minoris toward the western border of the constellation with Draco.
BH Crucis, also known as Welch's Red Variable, is a star in the constellation Crux. A long period (Mira-type) variable, its apparent magnitude ranges from 6.6 to 9.8 over 530 days. Hence at its brightest it is barely visible with the unaided eye in a rural sky. A red giant, it had been classified ranging between spectral types SC4.5/8-e and SC7/8-e, but appears to have evolved into a C-type spectrum by 2011.
5 Serpentis is a wide binary star system in Serpens Caput, the western section of the equatorial constellation of Serpens. It is faintly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 5.10. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 39.40±0.29 mas as viewed from Earth's orbit, it is located 83 light years away. The brighter member is an IAU radial velocity standard star, and it is moving away from the Sun with a heliocentric radial velocity of +54.3 km/s. The system made its closest approach to the Sun about 153,000 years ago at a separation of 68 ly (20.7 pc).
Anne Sewell Young was an American astronomer. She was an astronomy professor at Mount Holyoke College for 37 years.
Alice Hall Farnsworth was an American astronomer. She was director of John Payson Williston Observatory at Mount Holyoke College from 1936 until her retirement in 1957.
Steven Michael Gottlieb is an American amateur astronomer, researcher, writer and lecturer.