Barnard, Edward Emerson

born Dec. 16, 1857, Nashville, Tenn., U.S. died Feb. 6, 1923, Williams Bay, Wis. astronomer who pioneered in celestial photography and who was the leading observational astronomer of his time. In 1889 he began to photograph the Milky Way with large-aperture lenses, revealing much new detail. He discovered 16 comets and Jupiter's fifth satellite (1892). In 1916 he discovered the star (Barnard's star) that has the greatest known proper motion (motion of an individual star relative to the other stars). He published a catalog of dark nebulae in 1919. From 1883 to 1887 he studied at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, and was in charge of the observatory there. In 1887 he was appointed astronomer at Lick Observatory, Mt. Hamilton, California. From 1895 until his death he was professor of practical astronomy at the University of Chicago and astronomer at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wis. His eyesight was renowned. He observed Mars in a position that was not directly opposite the Sun, when detail is revealed through shadowing, and also observed Martian craters in the 1890s. He made neither of those observations public at the time.

Marius, Simon
(Latin),German Simon Mayr, Mair, or Mayer born Jan. 10, 1573, Gunzenhausen, Bavaria [Germany] died Dec. 26, 1624, Anspach German astronomer who named the four largest moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. All four are named after mythological figures with whom Jupiter fell in love. He and Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei both claimed to have discovered them, about 1610, and it is likely both did so independently. A dispute over priority resulted in unwarranted obloquy for Marius. The two were antagonists for the rest of their lives, and on several occasions Galileo attacked Marius in print and accused him of plagiarizing his work. Marius studied briefly with Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe and later became one of the first astronomers to use a telescope. He was the first to publish, in 1611, the telescopic observation of the Andromeda galaxy, describing the sight as like a candle seen at night through a horn (referring to horn lanterns, then common). He was also among the first to observe sunspots.