Adelaide Ames facts for kids

Adelaide Ames (born June 3, 1900 – died June 26, 1932) was an American astronomer. She worked as a research assistant at Harvard University. Adelaide Ames helped us learn more about galaxies.

She co-wrote an important book called A Survey of the External Galaxies Brighter Than the Thirteenth Magnitude. This book is now famous as the Shapley-Ames catalog. Ames was also a member of the American Astronomical Society. She was good friends with another famous astronomer, Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin.

Sadly, Adelaide Ames died in a boating accident in 1932. This was the same year her important catalog was published. She was buried at the Arlington National Cemetery.

About Adelaide Ames

Adelaide Ames went to Vassar College until 1922. After that, she studied at Radcliffe College. Radcliffe had just started a new program for advanced astronomy students. In 1924, Ames became the first woman to earn a Master's degree in astronomy from Radcliffe.

She first wanted to be a journalist. But she couldn't find a job in that field. So, she took a job as a research assistant. This job was at the Harvard College Observatory (HCO). She worked there until she died. Her main job was to list and organize galaxies. She focused on galaxies in the areas of the sky called Coma and Virgo. By 1931, her finished list included almost 2800 objects. Because of this work, she became a member of a special group. This group was called IAU Commission 28 on Nebulae and Star Clusters.

On June 26, 1932, Adelaide Ames was on vacation. She was on Squam Lake when she had a boat accident. She was only 32 years old when she passed away.

Her Work at Harvard

In 1921, Harlow Shapley became the director of the Harvard College Observatory. Soon after, he hired Adelaide Ames as his assistant. Ames was Shapley's first student to work on a graduate degree with him. Later, she even guided her own students.

Her early work at Harvard was about finding and naming objects. These were known as NGC/IC objects. In 1926, she and Shapley wrote several articles together. These articles described the shapes, colors, and sizes of 103 NGC galaxies. In 1930, she published her own book. It was called A catalog of 2778 nebulae including the Coma-Virgo group. In this book, she listed many NGC and IC objects. These were all found in the area of the Virgo cluster.

The Shapley-Ames Catalog

While working at the Harvard College Observatory, Adelaide Ames teamed up with Harlow Shapley. They worked on the famous Shapley-Ames catalog. This catalog lists galaxies that are brighter than a certain level (the 13th magnitude).

They looked at about 1250 galaxies. From their observations, they found something interesting. Galaxies seemed to be grouped together more near the north pole of our Milky Way galaxy. This was different from the south pole. These findings were very important. They showed that galaxies are not spread out evenly everywhere. This went against the idea that the universe was perfectly smooth and uniform.

Her Family

Adelaide Ames's father was T.L. Ames. He was a colonel in the U.S. Army.

See also

In Spanish: Adelaide Ames para niños