Everything about James Edward Keeler totally explained
James Edward Keeler (
September 10 1857 –
August 12 1900) was an American
astronomer.
Career
Keeler worked at
Lick Observatory beginning in
1888, but left after being appointed director of the
University of Pittsburgh's
Allegheny Observatory in
1891. He returned to Lick Observatory as its director in
1898, but died not long after in
1900. He had married in 1891 and left a widow and two children.
Along with
George Hale, Keeler founded and edited the
Astrophysical Journal, which remains a major journal of astronomy today.
Research
Keeler was the first to observe the gap in Saturn's rings now known as the
Encke Division, using the
36-inch refractor at
Lick Observatory on
7 January 1888. After this feature had been named for
Johann Encke, who had observed a much broader variation in the brightness of the
A Ring, Keeler's contributions were brought to light. The second major gap in the
A Ring, discovered by
Voyager, was named the
Keeler Gap in his honor.
In
1895, his spectroscopic study of the
rings of Saturn revealed that different parts of the rings reflect light with different
Doppler shifts, due to their different
rates of orbit around Saturn. This was the first observational confirmation of the theory of
James Clerk Maxwell that the rings are made up of countless small objects, each orbiting Saturn at its own rate.
Keeler discovered two
asteroids, one in
1899 and one in
1900, although the second was lost and only recovered about 100 years later.
Legacy
He won the
Henry Draper Medal in
1899.
In
1880, Allegheny Observatory director
Samuel Pierpont Langley, accompanied by Keeler and others, went on a scientific expedition to the summit of
Mount Whitney. The purpose of the expedition was to study how the
Sun's radiation was selectively absorbed by the
Earth's atmosphere, comparing the results at high altitude with those found at lower levels. As a result of the expedition, a 14,240-
ft. peak near
Mount Whitney was named the "Keeler Needle".
In addition to the Keeler Gap in Saturn's rings,
craters on
Mars and the
Moon are named in his honor, as is the
asteroid 2261 Keeler.
Further Information
Get more info on 'James Edward Keeler'.
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