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Astronomer
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The Maria Mitchell Association, named for the first woman astronomer and first woman astronomy professor, is accepting nominations for its Women in Science Award. The 2007 award will recognize people who encourage the advancement of girls in science, technology, engineering or mathematics. Nomination deadline is February 28,07. Read more about it on the Maria Mitchell Association website.
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Giovanni Schiaparelli (1835-1910) was an Italian astronomer (and director of the Milan Observatory) who first mapped Mars (in 1877) and brought attention to the network of "canali" (Italian for canals or channels) on Mars. These "canals" were later found to be dry and not to be canal at all. A Martian impact crater (Crater Schiaparelli, 461 km = 277 mi in diameter) and a hemisphere of Mars have been named after Schiaparelli. His late niece Elsa was an influential fashion designer.
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Titan has fascinated researchers for 6 decades, ever since astronomer Gerard Kuiper analyzed sunlight reflecting off the moon and discovered methane in its atmosphere. But interest escalated in 1980, when the Voyager 1 spacecraft revealed that methane is a small but key component of a nitrogen-rich atmosphere too thick to see through. The craft ... confirmed the presence of ethane, acetylene, propane, and other hydrocarbons. Bombarded by energetic charged particles from Saturn as well as by ultraviolet light from the sun, methane breaks down in Titan's upper atmosphere to form this complex array of organic compounds.
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Allan Rex Sandage (1926-) is an astronomer who, in the 1950's, measured the rate of the expansion of the Universe, Hubble's constant (H), which he calculated to be 50 km/sec/mpc. From this, Sandage estimated of the age of the Universe (T) to be 19.2 billion years [T = 2/3 x (1/H) ]. These calculations have changed through the years and now, H=~ 75 (T=12.9 billion years) is more generally accepted. Sandage ... discovered quasars in 1964.
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To be an astronomer, a doctoral degree in astronomy or a closely related field, such as astrophysics, is usually required. It takes about four years to get a bachelor's degree and about another four years of full-time study to earn a doctoral degree. Astronomers ... spend time studying throughout their careers to keep up with new discoveries in their field.
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