Alum Shoemaker Takes Astronomy to New Heights

Carolyn Shoemaker hasn’t always had her head in the stars. In fact, for the first 50 years of her life, her energy was focused on the more terrestrial business of school, marriage, and children. CSU, Chico alum Shoemaker spoke about her life and work at a lecture in Chico Nov. 16 that kicked off the winter astronomy education series, a cooperative series sponsored by the Kiwanis Chico Community Observatory (KCCO) and the Northern California Natural History Museum. Shoemaker never dreamed that she would set the record for the most comets discovered by an individual and always imagined the honors in astronomy would go to her husband, Gene, one of the first planetary scientists. He was involved in the Lunar Ranger missions and studied the impacts of asteroids hitting the Earth.

When Shoemaker was 50 and her children had left, she was “casting about for something to do.” Gene had a project that needed a volunteer. Soon, Shoemaker had begun her astronomical career, searching for asteroids and comets crossing the Earth’s orbit. She worked at Palomar Observatory near San Diego using fine-grain film and a wide-angle telescope to find moving objects against the static background of stars. The work was exacting. “I was looking for asteroids that were about the size of a grain of film you could see under a microscope,” she explained. But Shoemaker loved the long winter’s nights spent at the observatory. “We loved going to this dome looking for asteroids. For me, it was almost like a vacation. It was some of the hardest work we had every done, but it was fun.”

During the 12-year project at Palomar, the Shoemakers discovered, with David Levy, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9. This comet was a particularly exciting discovery because it allowed the researchers to see it orbit around Jupiter and then, about 15 months later, collide with the planet. “When the time of the collision with Jupiter came, we had the chance to observe the impact of a comet on another planet,” said Shoemaker. “We had never gotten to do this before.”

Shoemaker has discovered 32 comets and hundreds of asteroids over her career. Since Gene’s death in 1997, she has been associated with Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. “Comets,” she said, “have become a passion in my life.” She hopes her excitement will rub off on a new generation of astronomers. “The night sky is our neighbor, and we need to know more about it. There is satisfaction for the human soul to know what’s out there.”

Shoemaker, a College of Humanities and Fine Arts distinguished alumna, was in Chico for the dedication of the world’s first outdoor planetarium, The Shoemaker Open Sky Planetarium, which is located at the KCCO in Upper Bidwell Park. “A planetarium is a wonderful way to learn about the night sky,” she said. “The idea of an outdoor planetarium has me intrigued.”

Chris Koenig, the director of the KCCO, said the planetarium “will be able to educate not only our children here in Chico, but children across the world thanks to new technology.” The planetarium combines an outdoor amphitheatre with a handheld media presentation using wireless technologies. For more information on winter astronomy education series, check the Northern California Natural History Museum Web site at www.ncnhm.org.

—Anna Harris