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29-814: Benjamin Apthorp Gould (September 27, 1824 – November 26, 1896) was a pioneering American astronomer . He is noted for creating the Astronomical Journal , discovering the Gould Belt , and for founding of the Argentine National Observatory and the Argentine National Weather Service . He was born in Boston , Massachusetts, the son of Lucretia Dana (Goddard) and Benjamin Apthorp Gould,

58-509: A few hours a month to stargazing and reading the latest developments in research. However, amateurs span the range from so-called "armchair astronomers" to the highly ambitious people who own science-grade telescopes and instruments with which they are able to make their own discoveries, create astrophotographs , and assist professional astronomers in research. Miles Rock He was born in Ephrata, Pennsylvania , on October 10, 1840. He

87-438: A few weeks per year. Analysis of observed phenomena, along with making predictions as to the causes of what they observe, takes the majority of observational astronomers' time. Astronomers who serve as faculty spend much of their time teaching undergraduate and graduate classes. Most universities also have outreach programs, including public telescope time and sometimes planetariums , as a public service to encourage interest in

116-497: A general catalogue (1885) compiled from meridian observations of 32,448 stars. Alice Bache Gould (1868–1953), a mathematician, philanthropist, and historian, was one of his five children. Astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth . Astronomers observe astronomical objects , such as stars , planets , moons , comets and galaxies – in either observational (by analyzing

145-971: The American Philosophical Society . In 1864 he was admitted to the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati to represent his grandfather Captain Benjamin Gould. In the 1890s he became an early member of the Massachusetts Society of the Sons of the American Revolution . Appointed in 1862 actuary to the United States Sanitary Commission , he issued in 1869 an important volume of Investigations in

174-548: The Chandler wobble . After his return to Cambridge, Massachusetts , Gould started the Astronomical Journal in 1849, which he published until 1861. He resumed publication in 1885 and it is still published today. From 1855 to 1859 he acted as director of the Dudley Observatory at Albany, New York , and in 1859 published a discussion of the places and proper motions of circumpolar stars to be used as standards by

203-1003: The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1883 and the James Craig Watson Medal in 1887. Astronomers continue to investigate the astrophysics of a large scale feature of the Milky Way to which he called their attention in 1877, and honor him with its name, The Gould Belt . A crater on the Moon is named after him. Gould was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1892. He died at Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1896. In 1874, while in Argentina with his assistants, Gould completed his greatest work,

232-572: The United States Coast Survey , where he worked in geodetic astronomy and was in charge of the longitude department. He developed and organized the service, was one of the first to determine longitudes by telegraphic means, and employed the Atlantic cable in 1866 to establish accurate longitude-relations between Europe and America. One of his assistants and life-long mentee was Seth Carlo Chandler , who went on to discover

261-708: The Uranometria Argentina , consisting of an atlas published in 1877 and catalog in 1879, for which he received in 1883 the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society . The atlas introduced the system of defining constellation boundaries along lines of right ascension and declination, which was officially adopted by the International Astronomical Union for the whole sky in 1930. The catalog assigned Gould designations to all bright stars within 100 degrees of

290-410: The south celestial pole in a manner similar to what Flamsteed had earlier done for the northern hemisphere. An updated version, to which late 20th century data have been appended to the complete information for all stars in the original Uranometria Argentina, is available at www.uranometriaargentina.com/ . Gould followed his Uranometria Argentina with a zone-catalogue of 73,160 stars (1884), and

319-736: The Argentine National Weather Service, the first in South America. Gould's measurements of L. M. Rutherfurd 's photographs of the Pleiades in 1866 entitle him to rank as a pioneer in the use of the camera as an instrument of precision; and he secured at Córdoba 1400 negatives of southern star clusters , the reduction of which occupied the closing years of his life. He remained in Argentina until 1885, when he returned to Cambridge, Massachusetts. He received

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348-724: The Effacing Power of Tropical Forest-growth in Trinidad Island". From 1883 to 1898, he was chief of the Guatemala Boundary Commission, whose goal was to clearly define and map the contentious boundary between Guatemala and Mexico . In 1870, he married Susan Clarkson and together they had a son, Alfred Rock, and a daughter, Amy Cordoba Rock. Rock died on January 29, 1901, on his coffee farm in Guatemala due to severe food poisoning . He

377-522: The Military and Anthropological Statistics of American Soldiers . This study, informed by Gould's commitment to race science, purported to construct typologies of Black and Indigenous bodies, in particular. In 1864 he fitted up a private observatory at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and undertook in 1868, on behalf of the Argentine republic , to organize a national observatory at Córdoba . In 1871 he became

406-545: The PhD level and beyond (as of 2024). Contrary to the classical image of an old astronomer peering through a telescope through the dark hours of the night, it is far more common to use a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera to record a long, deep exposure, allowing a more sensitive image to be created because the light is added over time. Before CCDs, photographic plates were a common method of observation. Modern astronomers spend relatively little time at telescopes, usually just

435-566: The United States Coast Survey. In 1861 he undertook the enormous task of preparing for publication the records of astronomical observations made at the United States Naval Observatory since 1850. In 1851 Gould suggested numbering asteroids in their order of discovery, and placing this number in a disk (circle) as the generic symbol of an asteroid. That same year, he was elected as a member to

464-808: The West Indies and Central America. He was part of the Wheeler Survey between 1878 and 1879 mapping western states and territories. He worked at the United States Naval Observatory as an assistant astronomer under Simon Newcomb from 1879 to 1883. In 1882, he participated in the observation of the Transit of Venus from Santiago, Chile . He was a member of the Anthropological Society of Washington and in 1879 made presentations titled "Indian pictographs in New Mexico" and "On

493-725: The commanding officer and in the U.S. Signal Corps . After the war, he enrolled in the first class of the newly founded Lehigh University . He served as chairman of The Junto literary society and worked with Henry Sturgis Drinker to survey and map the Friedensville Zinc Mine in Center Valley, Pennsylvania . He graduated in 1869 with a degree in civil engineering and worked as an instructor of math and mineralogy at Lehigh for one year after graduation. Rock and three others, including John M. Thome and William Morris Davis , assisted Benjamin Apthorp Gould in

522-421: The core sciences, a competency examination, experience with teaching undergraduates and participating in outreach programs, work on research projects under the student's supervising professor, completion of a PhD thesis , and passing a final oral exam . Throughout the PhD training, a successful student is financially supported with a stipend . While there is a relatively low number of professional astronomers,

551-574: The creation of the Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba in Argentina between 1870 and 1873. While there, Gould, Rock and others created the Uranometria Argentina , which formalized the southern astronomical constellations. Trained as a civil engineer, he held multiple roles that leveraged his skills in different ways. From 1874 to 1877, he worked with the United States Hydrographic Office , mapping

580-536: The data) or theoretical astronomy . Examples of topics or fields astronomers study include planetary science , solar astronomy , the origin or evolution of stars , or the formation of galaxies . A related but distinct subject is physical cosmology , which studies the Universe as a whole. Astronomers usually fall under either of two main types: observational and theoretical . Observational astronomers make direct observations of celestial objects and analyze

609-903: The data. In contrast, theoretical astronomers create and investigate models of things that cannot be observed. Because it takes millions to billions of years for a system of stars or a galaxy to complete a life cycle, astronomers must observe snapshots of different systems at unique points in their evolution to determine how they form, evolve, and die. They use this data to create models or simulations to theorize how different celestial objects work. Further subcategories under these two main branches of astronomy include planetary astronomy , astrobiology , stellar astronomy , astrometry , galactic astronomy , extragalactic astronomy , or physical cosmology . Astronomers can also specialize in certain specialties of observational astronomy, such as infrared astronomy , neutrino astronomy , x-ray astronomy , and gravitational-wave astronomy . Historically , astronomy

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638-474: The field is popular among amateurs . Most cities have amateur astronomy clubs that meet on a regular basis and often host star parties . The Astronomical Society of the Pacific is the largest general astronomical society in the world, comprising both professional and amateur astronomers as well as educators from 70 different nations. As with any hobby , most people who practice amateur astronomy may devote

667-489: The field. Those who become astronomers usually have a broad background in physics, mathematics , sciences, and computing in high school. Taking courses that teach how to research, write, and present papers are part of the higher education of an astronomer, while most astronomers attain both a Master's degree and eventually a PhD degree in astronomy, physics or astrophysics . PhD training typically involves 5-6 years of study, including completion of upper-level courses in

696-711: The first director of the Argentine National Observatory (today, Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba of the National University of Córdoba ). While there, he and four assistants (including Miles Rock ) extensively mapped the southern hemisphere skies using newly developed photometric methods. On June 1, 1884, he made the last definite sighting of the Great Comet of 1882 . The need of astronomers for good weather prediction spurred Gould to collaborate with Argentine colleagues to develop

725-694: The majority of their time working on research, although they quite often have other duties such as teaching, building instruments, or aiding in the operation of an observatory. The American Astronomical Society , which is the major organization of professional astronomers in North America , has approximately 8,200 members (as of 2024). This number includes scientists from other fields such as physics, geology , and engineering , whose research interests are closely related to astronomy. The International Astronomical Union comprises about 12,700 members from 92 countries who are involved in astronomical research at

754-467: The principal of Boston Latin School , which the younger Gould attended. The poet Hannah Flagg Gould was his aunt. After going on to Harvard College and graduating in 1844, he studied mathematics and astronomy under C. F. Gauss at Göttingen , Germany, during which time he published approximately 20 papers on the observation and motion of comets and asteroids . Following completion of his Ph.D. (he

783-498: Was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using physical laws . Today, that distinction has mostly disappeared and the terms "astronomer" and "astrophysicist" are interchangeable. Professional astronomers are highly educated individuals who typically have a PhD in physics or astronomy and are employed by research institutions or universities. They spend

812-512: Was the first American to receive this degree in astronomy) he toured European observatories asking for advice on what could be done to further astronomy as a professional science in the U.S.A. The main advice he received was to start a professional journal modeled after what was then the world's leading astronomical publication, the Astronomische Nachrichten . Gould returned to America in 1848 and from 1852 to 1867 worked in

841-493: Was the youngest of nine children. His father died when Rock was only five years old and he was raised by a Mennonite farmer. At age 14, he moved to Lancaster and worked in a book store. He attended the local public schools and Lancaster High School. He attended Franklin & Marshall College but left early to serve in the American Civil War . He served in the 1st Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment as secretary to

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