Herschel

• The U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree program creates the opportunity to spotlight public lands with billions of trees across diverse ecosystems.
• 84 Lumber hosted a special stopover for the tree at its newly expanded location in Morgantown, West Virginia, on Earl L Core Road.
• "84 Lumber is proud to sponsor the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree that brings so many people joy throughout the holidays," said 84 Lumber's owner and CEO, Maggie Hardy.
• Joining 84 Lumber in welcoming the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree to Morgantown were officials from national, state, and local government, with representatives from West Virginia Governor Jim Justice's office.

• Caroline Herschel, the first professional female astronomer, made contributions to astronomy that are still important to the field today.
• Her story reflects not only the priorities of astronomy but also how credit is assigned in the field.

Her path to astronomy

• She was forced to complete household chores, despite showing a keen interest in learning from a young age.
• She eventually escaped her family to follow her older brother William Herschel, whom she adored, to Bath.
• She didn’t become interested in astronomy until William was already thoroughly engrossed in the subject.
• Although she spoke somewhat disparagingly about how she followed her brother to different interests, including music and astronomy, Caroline eventually acknowledged her real interest in studying astronomical bodies.

Searching the skies

• On Aug. 1, 1782, she discovered a comet – meaning she was the first to see it in a telescope with her own eyes.
• For all of her other work, like recording and organizing all the data from William’s observations, she received less credit than William.
• For instance, when Caroline took all of William’s observations and compiled them into a catalog, it was published under William’s name.
• The Herschels also created the first – though not quite correct – map of our galaxy, the Milky Way.

Who gets the credit in astronomy?

• In fact, most of the astronomers who receive credit today are those whose work looks a lot like Caroline’s – recording and organizing data about astronomical observations.
• Astronomers seldom put their eyeballs up to a telescope eyepiece anymore, and many of the most important discoveries are made by telescopes in space.
• Some of the lack of recognition is probably because her brother received all the credit for her catalog.
• Acknowledging the contributions of astronomers like Caroline Herschel is a small step toward giving credit where credit is due.

• Saturn’s rings are one of the jewels of the solar system, but it seems that their time is short and their existence fleeting.
• A new study suggests the rings are between 400 million and 100 million years old – a fraction of the age of the solar system.
• This means we are just lucky to be living in an age when the giant planet has its magnificent rings.
• The rings are visible to anyone with a decent pair of binoculars or a modest back garden telescope.

Collision course

• When in-falling dust passes through, it can collide with icy particles in the rings.
• Over time, the dust gradually darkens the rings and adds to their mass.
• These may seem like lengthy time scales, but they are less than one-tenth of the 4.5 billion-year age of the solar system.

Death Star

• One in particular, the little moon Mimas, which is nicknamed the Death Star, has a 130km-wide impact crater called Herschel on its surface.
• However, Mimas is only about 400km across, so this impact would not have needed much more energy to obliterate the moon.

Ring rain

• Ultra-violet light from the Sun causes these fragments to become electrically charged via the photo-electric effect.
• Like the Earth, Saturn has a magnetic field, and once charged, these tiny icy fragments are released from the ring system and trapped by the planet’s magnetic field.
• This study demonstrated that about one Olympic-sized swimming pool of mass from the rings is lost into Saturn’s atmosphere every half-hour.

• Dr. Fagan and Ms. Herschell are incredible animal welfare advocates, and we are thrilled to bestow upon them the title of 2022 American Hero Veterinarian and Hero Veterinary Nurse.
• A special thanks to our friends at Zoetis for sponsoring this national campaign and helping us celebrate the humane heroes behind our hero pets.
• Dr. Raquel Fagan from Mount Dora, Florida is the 2022 American Hero Veterinarian.
• Zoetis continues to find ways to support Americas dedicated veterinary community, and the American Humane Hero Veterinarian and Hero Veterinary Nurse Awards are our way of thanking these devoted individuals, said Tara Bidgood, DVM, PhD, DACVCP, executive director, Veterinary Professional Services & Medical Affairs, U.S. Petcare, Zoetis.