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Caroline Lucretia Herschel ( March 16 1750January 9 1848) was a German-born English astronomer. She worked with her brother Sir William Herschel. Her main contribution to astronomy was the discovery of some new comets. In particular, the periodic comet 35P/Herschel-Rigollet bears her name.

Herschel was born in Hanover. In the autumn of 1772 she joined her brother William in England, where he had established himself as a teacher of music at Bath. She co-operated with him both in his professional duties and in the astronomical researches to which he had already begun to devote all his spare time. She was the principal singer at his oratorio concerts, and acquired such a reputation as a vocalist that she was offered an engagement for the Birmingham festival, which, however, she declined.

In 1782 her brother accepted the office of astronomer to George III and moved to the SloughFor slough (In the UK, pronounced to rhyme with bough; In the US, pronounced 'slew') as a type of aquatic feature, see Slough (wetland). Slough (pronounced to rhyme with bough) is a town and unitary authority in the county of Berkshire in the south of Eng area. Caroline became his constant assistant in his observations, and also executed the laborious calculations which were connected with them. Her chief amusement during her leisure hours was sweeping the heavens with a small Newtonian telescope. By this means she detected in 1783Events February 3 American Revolutionary War: Spain recognizes United States independence. February 4 American Revolutionary War: Great Britain formally declares that it will cease hostilities with the United States of America. May 18 Saint John, New Brun three remarkable nebulaThis article refers to nebulas in space. For the band Nebula, go to Nebula (band). Triangulum Emission Nebula NGC 604 lies in a spiral arm of Galaxy M33, 2. 7 million light-years from Earth. This nebula is a region in which stars are forming. A nebula (Lae, and during the eleven years 1786Events May 21 Trial of the Necklace affair ends in Paris August 8 Mont Blanc was climbed for the first time by Dr. Michael-Gabriel Paccard and Jacques Balmat. September 2 Hurricane in England Choctaw Treaty Chickasaw Treaty Robert Burns publishes Poems, C1797Events January 3 The Treaty of Tripoli (a peace treaty between the United States and Tripoli) is signed at Algiers. January 7 The parliament of the Repubblica Cisalpina adopts the Italian Tricolore as official flag: here starts the story of the Flag of It eight comets, five of them with unquestioned priority — among them Comet EnckeComets Comet Encke (officially designated 2P/Encke is a periodic comet, named after Johann Franz Encke, who through laborious study of its orbit and many calculations was able to link multiple observations in the years 1786, 1795, 1805 and 1818 to the sam. Her first comet, discovered on August 1Some entries on this page have been duplicates from June 28. The correct dates for such events need to be determined. August 1st is the 213th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (214th in leap years), with 152 days remaining. Events 527 Justinian I 1786Events May 21 Trial of the Necklace affair ends in Paris August 8 Mont Blanc was climbed for the first time by Dr. Michael-Gabriel Paccard and Jacques Balmat. September 2 Hurricane in England Choctaw Treaty Chickasaw Treaty Robert Burns publishes Poems, C, was the first comet discovered by a woman, and won her recognition. The following year she began to receive an annual salary from George III for her work as William's assistant, which made her the first woman officially recognized for a scientific position. In 1797 she presented to the Royal Society an Index to Flamsteed's observations, together with a catalogue of 561 stars accidentally omitted from the British Catalogue, and a list of the errata in that publication.

She returned to Hanover in 1822 after the death of her brother, but did not abandon her astronomical studies, and in 1828 she completed the reduction, to January 1800, of 2500 nebulae discovered by her brother. In 1828 the Royal Astronomical Society presented her with their Gold Medal, and in 1835 elected her an honorary member of the society. In 1846 she received a gold medal from the King of Prussia.

The asteroid 281 Lucretia was named after her second given name, also a lunar crater in the Sinus Iridium was named Caroline Herschel in her honor.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911 Britannica



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