Endeavour Doing Doughnuts Over Venice

By CJ Gronner

The Space Shuttle Endeavour made its final voyage September 21st, and it was pretty great to see. My brother Rich back in Minnesota reminded me to go out and look for it, and as I made my way to the beach, I saw that it was the talk of the town.

The Venice pier and the beach were packed with sky gazers of all ages, and it made it extra exciting that a bunch of kids were out on field trips to see the fly-over, and their hyped up yells made the whole experience that much more awesome, in the true sense of the word.

The kids played ball, the old folks set up camp chairs … I set up my towel and sunscreened it up to await the arrival of Endeavour.

Everyone stared skyward and it felt like maybe nothing would happen, when all of a sudden, one of the teachers yelled “KIDS! Here it comes!” They all ran screaming towards the shore, everyone else stood up and shielded their eyes from the bright sunny perfectly blue sky … looking … and then there it was, accompanied by two little (looking) jets.

A cheer went up from the pier, and we all stood and watched the massive spaceship fly over Venice.

It was unexpectedly moving, I guess because it made you think about space exploration and adventure and the possibility of dreams, and of times when the sky really was the limit.

Also moving because it was again something like the eclipse a few months ago, where people from all walks of life came together to observe something bigger than ourselves for a moment.

We watched it go overhead, and as soon as the chills subsided, the kids packed up to go back to school, folks streamed back off the pier to get back to work, people got on their phones to tell their friends about it, and I closed my eyes to think about this massive Universe.

Before I got too deep into my head, I heard a guy yell, “Here she comes again!” and sure enough, here came Endeavour for another buzz over. My friend Brandon wrote that Endeavour was “doing doughnuts over Venice” – Ha!

Thanks for the thrill, Endeavour … and here’s to the dreamer in all of us.

Everything is Normal in Venice

By CJ Gronner

I was in project mode one recent Saturday, and found myself poking around in Lincoln Hardware, getting ready to paint a chair bright red. I looked up from my deciding to see my friend and Venice impresario, Danny Samakow, all excited and on a mission. He told me that the next day was going to be the best solar eclipse of our lifetime, and he was on his way to the Valley to buy a whole bunch of special glasses to view the spectacle through. Awesome. I told him I’d see him tomorrow, and we split our separate ways. I painted and thought about how much I love Danny’s sense of “School Spirit,” for lack of a better term.

He is always organizing and facilitating fun in the name of Venice and its people. I mean, who wants to and then actually DOES drive to the Valley on their Saturday to get special glasses to make something more fun for others? Then offers up special Eclipse drink deals at Danny’s Deli and gives any glasses donation money to AIDS research? Danny Samakow that’s who. He reminds me of a friend of mine from college who once showed up with massive amounts of glow sticks that we broke open to fling the light stuff around our walls and play (toxic) glow tag with. He would say, “There’s nothing worse than running out of fun.” Danny is that same type of dude. A real gem, and Spirit of Venice preservationist who we should all thank every time we see him and his wonderful team/s. For real.

Sunday was weird out all day alternating fog and sun. Most Venice people I spoke to were Art Walk crowd avoiding, and doing their own thing. Which is why it was so great to get down to the beach just in time for the maximum of the eclipse (6:38 pm!) and see absolutely everyone gazing skyward, collectively sharing the phenomenon.

And a phenomenon it was! The fog muted the whole thing, and made it so you didn’t really need the special glasses (but probably should have worn anyway) to see the super trippy eclipse go down. People were sharing the glasses bought at Danny’s Deli (About $1,000 bones made for AIDS research!) with strangers and passersby. It was hard to capture in photos, as was the electricity you felt in those moments of group excitement.

There aren’t that many events, especially natural ones, that bring a whole people together in the name of just seeing something cool, and way bigger than us. This was such an evening, and the beating of the drum circle in the distance only made it all feel more tribal. Heavy and joyous at the same time, which is what life itself is, after all.

To celebrate, we hit all three of Danny’s joints, and wound up at the Canal Club inventing what may be the drink for Summer ’12. A mango margarita with pepper infused tequila! So it tastes just like when you get a mango from a fruit cart person and they put the chili powder on it, and it’s a perfect fiesta in your mouth. We called it “The Eclipse.” Try it. And HAPPY SUMMER 2012 in Venice!!!

Here’s to never running out of fun!

Summer in Venice, in 2062

By Jim Smith

Hello, and Welcome to Venice!

If you’re visiting the City of Venice this summer, there are some things you should know. Venice is easily accessible by mass transit and bike lanes and paths. You should have no problem getting nearly to the beach before you have to put your feet on solid ground. Venice is also one of the most economical excursions in Southern California. If you bring a picnic lunch and have a transit pass or bike, you may get away without spending a cent. But if you want to buy someone a gift, Venice artisans abound on Ocean Front Walk and Windward Avenue, all the way to the Lagoon.

You’ll have your choice of a party atmosphere beach or a place of peace and quiet, save only the waves crashing against the sea wall. When you arrive, just look for the Tram (Streetcar) on Pacific Avenue. It will take you from the end of the Venice Peninsula to the Santa Monica border. Actually, you can ride it all the way to the transit centers in downtown Santa Monica.

Extending the Tram into Santa Monica was the subject of a huge debate in Venice a couple of years ago. Many people did not want an easy link with this regional transit center since it would, they said, bring many more visitors into Venice. But in the end, what carried the day was the idea of having an easy link for Venetians to the old subway that runs downtown, the Expo line and the Magnetic Levitation (MagLev) bullet train to San Francisco.

Many Venetians won’t have a chance to kick back until after our city-wide Summer Solstice (June 20, 2062 at 6:11 p.m.) celebrations are over. In recent years, the Solstice celebration has become even bigger than July 4th (founding of Venice day). There is something going on during the Solstice on nearly every block. While the Solstice falls early in the evening this year, the parties will likely go all night!

If you haven’t been to Venice in a while, you might be surprised by the changes. In recent years, the City of Venice has been engaged in beautifying and restoring our crumbling town. The first order of business was building a sea wall to protect against the ever-higher waves due to global climate change. Flooding had been occurring with increasing frequency, with powerful waves pushing water for blocks into the center of town. That’s a thing of the past now. Our famous sandy beaches have been preserved. Only problem is there is now a looming wall between the beach and the ocean. It doesn’t bother the surfers, but if you just want to swim, check the low tide schedule before you come.

At last, Venice has become a center of the arts and culture, just as Abbot Kinney had in mind 150 years ago. That doesn’t mean that you can’t indulge in “cheap thrills.” There are plenty of Pot Houses in Venice. There’s a giant game arcade on Windward Avenue, a skate park on the beach, amusement rides on the pier, and other delights to enjoy with a consenting adult.

The City has helped the arts along with generous stipends for serious painters, sculptors, poets, musicians, thespians and others. In addition, the new Center of Performing Arts has just been completed at the location of the old bus yard on Main Street. The Greek Theater is state-of-the-art with 5,000 seats, and numerous rooms for small events, classes and exhibits. The University of Venice also holds many of its free classes at the new Center.

It is also the location of some of the best entertainment in Venice, the meetings of the Venetian Assembly. This body, open to all residents of Venice, can override the City Council, since it represents the will of the people. It takes a big issue to pack this hall. Smaller meetings are held at the City Hall/Post Office on the Lagoon. The first meeting to be held at the Center was about building a desalination plant to produce fresh, clean water for all of Venice. It’s an expensive project, the cost of which many residents did not want passed on in their water bills. A compromise was reached where half the cost will be spread out over 20 years in water rates, which will still be only a fraction of those charged by the Dept. of Water and Power. The other half will come out of the general fund. At least, we can soon say goodbye to water rationing. Others were concerned with an unsightly plant marring the view of the coastline. The good news is that it will be hidden under the Abbot Kinney Pier.

Another change you might notice is that some streets have disappeared. Ever since the private automobile went the way of the horse and carriage, we’ve been left with all that concrete and blacktop. This problem, of course, is worldwide, but in Venice we’ve taken the lead in some innovative solutions. The canals and the Lagoon (former traffic circle) are back. Digging out the old canals in Central Venice was so easy with new digging equipment that other neighborhoods are now talking about having canals in their front yards.

Other streets have become community gardens, mini-forest preserves, sculpture gardens and pleasant – but separate – paths for walkers and bikers. We also want to keep some streets just as they were before Peak Oil hit, and the cars went away. Our children might want to visit an old-time street that carried thousands of gas-guzzling, polluting cars with anonymous people locked away inside.

Don’t worry, in Venice many people have been getting by just fine for 150 years without an automobile. The city was founded before cars took over our lives. The Beats and many of the Sixties Generation scorned these vehicles that kept people so isolated. The use of bicycles and walking has always been a part of Venice, and so it is today. In addition, we now have Trams on Pacific, Rose, Venice, Washington and Abbot Kinney Blvds.

While you will encounter lots of people on a summer’s day on the Boardwalk, it won’t be like those photos in the history vids when hordes of people jammed every available space and often had fights with each other!

Venice once had gangs, dangerous drugs, wild car drivers, crime, and was occupied by Los Angeles. Nothing seemed to be repaired; trash, advertising, and graffiti accumulated; and in their frustration people lashed out at each other. Due to economic conditions, many people had to live in their vehicles or even on the streets. These were obviously unacceptable conditions that no longer exist.

If one of these “homeless people,” as they were called, somehow appeared in 2062, they would instantly be befriended by a passing Venetian who would take him or her to a hotel or hostel where the person could stay, and eat, until they were able to secure income. What a horrible life some people had to endure before the Occupy revolution, which ended foreign wars and put the needs of the people first.

Today, with rapid transit throughout California, people have nearly limitless choices for recreation. One behalf of the Welcome to Venice Committee let me say how pleased we are that you have chosen to visit our fair city.   

Atomic Scientists Set The Clock Forward

Faced with inadequate progress on nuclear weapons reduction and proliferation, and continuing inaction on climate change, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) announced today that it has moved the hands of its famous “Doomsday Clock” to five minutes to midnight.

There are still 19,000 nuclear weapons in the world, said the BAS.

Questions Persist As To US Arms Treaty Compliance

By Janet Phelan

Geneva, Switzerland — Questions concerning the compliance of the United States with the international treaty, the Biological Weapons Convention, came to a head recently during the Seventh Review Conference of the Convention, which is being held now in Geneva, Switzerland at the United Nations.

The most recent compliance report, listed in the BWC catalogue as BWC/CONF.VII/INF.2/Add.1, has failed to quash concerns as to the reliability of statements made by the United States as to its compliance with obligations under the BWC.

The specific concerns focus on the United States’ lack of disclosure of a law which amends the prior biological weapons statute. The original statute is entitled the Biological Weapons Statute–Title 18 Chapter 10 Section 175 of the U.S. code. The amended law, which is entitled The Expansion of the Biological Weapons Statute (Section 817 of the USA PATRIOT Act) radically changes the legal culpability incurred by agents of the US government for violating the statute, granting them immunity.

While this most recent report submitted to the BWC by the United States does mention that the original law was indeed amended by the USA PATRIOT Act, The U.S. has once again failed to disclose the revolutionary nature of this amendment, and is instead persisting in reporting the text of the older statute without coming clean about the implications or even the wording of the amended version. The critical amendment to 175 literally removes U.S. agents from liability for violating legal prohibitions for possessing and transporting biological weapons. The implications are serious and deserve careful scrutiny.

Questions have also been raised as to whether or not the U.S. ever reported this legislative landmine on the CBM (Confidence Building Measures) Form E’s. The CBM’s mandate that state parties report the status of their labs, research projects and other matters of concern to the BWC. The form E mandates the disclosure of new legislation relevant to biological weapons and is considered to be politically binding.

Section 817 was passed along with the rest of the USA PATRIOT Act in 2001. What is publicly available for this time period reveals that the U.S. reported that there was nothing new to declare for both 2001 and 2002. This is revealed at the following link, on page 97 (http://bit.ly/sVwgOY).

United States Ambassador Laura Kennedy and the CBM unit of the U.S. State Department have been repeatedly contacted with questions as to whether the U.S. ever disclosed Section 817 to the other parties to the Convention. No response has been forthcoming. A United States delegate to the Seventh Review Conference, Chris Park, recently offered assurances that the requests for information about CBM Form E  had been received and were being researched. He also admitted that “there may have been an oversight.”

Here is the complete text of Section 817 of the USA PATRIOT Act, with the questionable subsection underlined: (http://bit.ly/tYv3S4).

The Venice Oceanarium: The Grunion Are Running

By Tim Rudnick

Last month, June 3, the Venice Oceanarium presented its 16^th annual grunion party. Six to seven hundred hearty Venetians made their way to the beach at 10:30pm to watch these amazing fish come out of the waves to spawn. Young kids played in the surf and waited for the first of the grunion to appear. Older folks just watched. The night was moonless, but the darkness only increased the mystery of these fish.

No other fish in the world does what they do. Grunion hunting is a waiting game. At first only a few grunion appeared – two to four with each wave. The night was cool, so those not prepared for an ocean evening left early. Those who stayed began to see the numbers increase. Within an hour, 30 to 40 grunion started to “run” our shore. The excitement swelled as people began to observe the mating rituals. Many folks left at this point.

But the real reward came forty-five minutes later, just before midnight. At that time the shore became a virtual carpet of fish. Thousands and thousands of fish – everywhere glistening in the dark night. For those who waited, the night ended in a crescendo.

And how does the Venice Oceanarium know exactly when the grunion are going to run? How can they predict it six months ahead of time?

The grunion run four to six times a month from March to August. They run on the high tides of the month, usually after a full or new moon. Therefore, it is easy to predict with a simple tide calendar!

It is during these tides that the ocean climbs highest on the shore. This wet sand offers the perfect conditions for the female grunion to lay their eggs. The following tide, the next night, falls short of this wet sand where the eggs have been deposited. The fertilized eggs remain in their wet sandy womb for two weeks. When the water returns in the next high tide the eggs are ready to hatch and re-enter the ocean. Millions of young hatchlings fill the waters and stimulate the waiting schools of grunion to come onshore and continue the life cycle.

How do the first fish know just when to come ashore? Natural Selection! The fish that didn’t lay their eggs just at the high tides had their eggs washed away too early to be hatched and were eliminated from the gene pool.

The Oceanarium selects the dates for its parties very carefully. Usually the grunion are running at odd hours like 2:00 in the morning on a Tuesday or Thursday night. Obviously this is not a good time for a party. The Oceanarium has a party when the grunion run around 10:00-10:30 on a weekend. That usually happens only once or twice a year.

When the Oceanarium started having these grunion parties, hardly anyone knew the grunion ran in the middle of the city, at Venice Beach. Since then, the Oceanarium has put the Venice grunion on the map. This is important and was the main reason why the Oceanarium chose to do these parties. By identifying the presence of grunion in Venice, the Oceanarium emphasizes the importance of having a dark and quiet beach at night. And it makes the argument to keep the lights of the developing beach-front dim on the shore.

The next grunion runs will take place July 3 11pm-1am and July 4 12-2am. After that they will run again July 16 10:30pm-12:30am and July 17 11pm-1am, but these last two days are late in the season and the grunion turnout is expected to be low. For more information visit the Oceanarium’s website at http://www.veniceoceanarium.org.

“Four In the Morning” – The Video

Last month’s wonderful pre-dawn ballet of Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter was at best difficult to see for most of us city dwellers.

If you would like to see a day by day simulation of the entire month of May’s celestial flash mob, google: “The four planet dance of 2011″ (with quotes), which will get you to a Sky & Telescope article detailing the event.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Click here to view a 700-kb movie and enjoy.

You will need to have Apple’s Quicktime to view the movie.

If you don’t have it, google: apple +quicktime to be directed to a download site. The program is free.

–Roger Linnett

4 O’Clock in the Morning

By Roger Linnett

This month serves up a sweet little visual treat for our enjoyment; 4 of the 5 planets visible with the naked-eye will all rise together in the eastern pre-dawn sky.

Plus we’re going to encounter a meteor shower, those fiery, cosmic sprinkles, which peaks the first week of the month, and for the metaphorical cherry on top - a crescent new Moon joins in the planetary “flash mob” at the beginning, and again at the end, of the month.

Mercury, Venus, Mars and Jupiter will all be within a few degrees of each other from our line of sight on Earth; their most compact grouping coming on the mornings of May 11and 12.

You will need to have a clear view of the eastern horizon, or be able to get high enough to see over the neighbor’s rooftops. Of course, the darker the location, the better: try to avoid having street lights, etc., along your line of sight as they inhibit your eyes adjusting to the night sky.

Mercury will definitely be visible with binoculars, and possibly to the unaided eye, all month. It’s very low in the sky, below Venus, “the Morning Star,” the brightest object in the early morning sky. Mercury shines only one-fourth as bright as Venus.

Mars will be the hardest of the group to see. It begins the month hidden in the Sun’s glare, and may be too low in the sky to see without binoculars until mid-May.

Jupiter is also very low at the beginning of the month, but rises quickly, and on the mornings of May 11and 12 is a mere half of a degree (the apparent diameter of the Moon) above Venus, and a little dimmer.

If you follow the quartet from night to night, notice the way Mercury moves relative to Venus. At the beginning of the month it sits just below Venus. It moves a little to the right each night until the 11th, and thereafter moves back to the left, catching Venus on the 19th, and then leaving her behind in their age-old promenade around the Sun. This apparent back and forth motion is an optical illusion similar to passing a car on the freeway. The car appears to us to be moving backwards, but we know it’s not.

Mars is positioned below and left of Venus and Mercury. Its pinkish cast, enhanced by our atmosphere, makes it easy to differentiate from nearby celebrities.

After their brush with Jupiter, Venus and Mercury close in on Mars as it rises out of the morning twilight. It moves steadily higher with each passing night.

Jupiter moves noticeably from night to night, again due to an optical illusion caused by the relative motion of the planets in their orbits.

After it passes Venus on the 11th, Jupiter continues to move up and away as Venus and Mercury pursue Mars, coming closest on the 23rd.

As the month ends, Mercury and Venus sink down into the Sun’s glare, as they pass behind it, while Mars and Jupiter climb higher each night, rising earlier each month, and will be visible at night for the rest of the year.

The Eta Aquarid meteor shower, which peaks this year on the morning of May 6, is the first of two showers that occur each year as a result of the Earth passing through the trail of dust left by Halley’s Comet; the second being the Orionids, which we will encounter during the second half of October. You should be able to see 12 to 15 or more an hour during the peak, but some meteors will continue to arrive for a few weeks thereafter.

These meteors are, in fact, just grains of sand and dust blown off the comet as it plows through the so-called “solar wind,” which continuously streams from the Sun.

Their bright trails are the result of hitting our atmosphere at an amazing 30 miles per second – over 100,000 miles per hour!

The meteors appear to originate in the constellation Aquarius, near the seventh brightest star, designated Eta, hence their name, which rises about 3am at this time of year, a couple of hours before morning twilight.

Looking to the east, locate the Square of Pegasus; the four bright stars form a large diamond. Aquarius is the area of sky to the right. The meteors’ trails will point back toward that spot, but can appear from just about anywhere above and to the sides of that general direction.

Bundle up good and warm, take a thermos of something hot, clean your binox lenses, break out a lawn chair or chaise, kick back and enjoy the show. These planets don’t get together for family pictures very often, so take advantage of this rare opportunity.

Water Crisis: The Delta and Us

By DeDe Audet

Living, working, and playing here in Venice gives us environmentalists more in common with the California Delta than it is comfortable to think about. I am no exception. It gives me great pleasure to respond to criticism by saying “I have been saving water, power, and nonrenewable fuel by taking  two-minute showers, heating my household water on the roof by the sun, driving a Prius, and covering the whole front yard with bricks set in sand to let rain water percolate through.

But learning about the rising seas and California’s water crisis  makes me uneasy. Maybe it is time to face up to the problem.  Venice CA was a swamp before canal lots first sold for $5 down and $5 a month.  The California Delta was also a swamp.

Disappointed goldseekers turned to farming and began building levees to reclaim Delta swampland in the 1850’s.  Today it brings in an average $2 billion in crops per year and provides 12 million visitors with 290 shoreline recreation areas, 300 marinas for launching sportfishing, and 500,000 boaters.

But the Delta rests on shaky ground:  a bad earthquake will shake loose more than one of the hastily thrown together levees.  No one knows when that quake will occur.

On the other hand we do know the sea rises a bit more each year.  Even a little rise will affect the California Delta and our community of Venice.  What are we doing about that?  Has anyone come up with suggestions to build dikes against the oceans about to engulf us?  Of course not.

No one wants to believe it.

Sea rise is too big and too costly to think about.  (Consider please, if you still think global warming can be averted, on how to shut down the coal mines of China in time.) So, instead of planning for sea rise, Californians argue about the environment of a little fish called the Delta Smelt.         One bunch of Delta farmers hired lawyers to shut down the pumps bringing water to the farmers in the southern regions of the Delta and Southern California.  They were successful in showing a Federal judge in 2008 that changes in the Delta water flow caused endangerment of the Delta Smelt.  So the judge closed the pumps during breeding season.

Then the deprived group of Delta farmers contested the closure by bringing new information to the court.  In December 2010, the judge reopened the case saying “The 2008 (biological opinion findings) are arbitrary, capricious, and unlawful, and are remanded to Fish & Wildlife for further consideration in accordance with this decision and the requirements of law. . .”

What?

Now, in February 2010 comes this.  “The U.S. Department of Interior (boss of U.S. Fish and Wildlife) today announced a new policy aimed at ensuring the integrity of scientific and scholarly activities it uses, and appointed a Scientific Integrity Officer to coordinate the new policy’s implementation.”

Could this be a response to criticism of the techniques of determining risk to environmentally challenged species?  I addressed the use of risk techniques in 2008 when LADWP commissioned a study that “Used state-of-the-art analytical techniques (Stochastic modeling) to calculate the expected cost of LADWP owned solar projects (Measure B).”

Stochastic analysis modeling was originally called the Monte Carlo system, useful in predicting risk. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife findings in the first Delta Smelt case predicted 0 to 40% risk of extinction might be found for the Delta Smelt. (Now you know why the judge found the biological opinion findings capricious.)

But who needs a model to tell us the sea is rising? Every  year someone measures it and tells us the sea measures higher than where it was the year before.  Yet, like arguing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, Californians persist in spending time and money arguing suitable environment for a little fish that is sure to get lost when saltwater flowing through the Golden Gate engulfs the Delta.

Right beside my computer is a map produced by the California Institute.  It shows what will be covered by saltwater in our area when the sea rises 1.4 meter (55inches).  Most of Venice and all of Playa Vista will be under.  Whether it will occur in forty, fifty, or 100 years from now is unknown.  But we can predict it will happen.

As long as Southern California depends on the Delta for water to drink, there is little comfort knowing the Delta will probably go under saltwater before we do.

 

Henrietta Leavitt – Surveyor to the Stars

By Roger Linnett

Henrietta Swan Leavitt’s contribution to astronomy is acknowledged as one of the most significant of the 20th century, but, as is typical of women in science in this country, her name elicits only blank stares and shrugged shoulders.

Born in Lawrence, MA., in 1868, she enrolled in Oberlin College in Ohio in 1885, completed two years, and transferred to the Society for Collegiate Instruction of Women (later Radcliffe College) in Cambridge, MA. She graduated in 1892 at the age of 24. Her degree was a certificate that stated if she were a man she would have been awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard.

In the late-1870s Edward C. Pickering, Director of the Harvard College Observatory had embarked on a project to produce a photographic survey; a photo-mosaic of the entire night sky. Pickering recruited as many as 40 women – the work was quite tedious and paid too little to attract any men – to work for him to reduce the stellar data from several thousand photographic plates. Pickering treated them with respect, and tried to make their jobs interesting and stimulating. These human computers were referred to, affectionately, as “Pickering’s Harem.”

When Henrietta first started working at the observatory, she was assigned the job of recording the magnitude of stars, using a microscope and measuring the size of the stars’ disks on the photographic plates, and comparing them against pictures of stars whose magnitudes had been ascertained.

 

In the mid-1890s, she began the task that would become her life’s work, and profoundly change the science of astronomy. She was asked to search for variable stars. These stars pulsate, as if they were breathing, growing brighter then dimming. Finding them was accomplished by a slick bit of photographic legerdemain.

Two images were taken of the same star field, but at different times, usually days or weeks apart. One of these negative plates was then converted to a positive plate. These two plates were then exactingly aligned, and those stars whose brightness was constant were canceled out while those whose brightness had changed stood out. Henrietta, it seemed, had a genuine talent for ferreting out the rare and elusive stars.

These pulsating stars were called Cepheid (See-fee-id) variables after one of the first stars to be recognized as having this unusual quality, Delta Cepheid (the fourth brightest star, designated Delta – the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet) in the constellation Cepheus, a king from Greek mythology.

In 1896 she spent two years traveling in Europe, and returned to Beloit, Wisconsin, where her father was a minister. During this period she started having health problems and her hearing deteriorated rapidly. She returned to Harvard in August, 1902, but was only able to work four hours a day. She was appointed to the observatory’s permanent staff in 1903.

During the next few years she discovered 1777 variable stars in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, which are actually dwarf galaxies gravitationally bound to our Milky Way, but at that time they were believed to be part of it.

In 1908,  she published her results in a paper which is now considered an astronomical classic. A subsequent paper published in 1912, “Periods of 25 Variable Stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud” elaborated on her 1908 publication.

It contained the observation that was to become the basis of one of astronomy’s greatest discoveries: “A remarkable relation between the brightness of these variables and the length of their cycle will be noticed.”

When plotted on a graph a Cepheid variable’s changing brightness looks like a playground slide – a quick, steep rise to maximum brightness (the stairs), and a slower undulating decrease of light output (the slide) back to its minimal state, which then repeats. And the graph of every such star produces the exact same figure, although they often differ in size.

This relationship became known as the Period-Luminosity Relationship. The importance of her discovery was soon recognized by others in the astronomical community as a new tool, called a “standard candle,” with which to measure the distances to distant stars by comparing their apparent brightness against one another, that is, if one Cepheid was only half as bright as another, it must be twice as far away, and one only a tenth as bright would be ten times farther, etc.

In 1923-1924 Edwin Hubble – the guy they named the Hubble Space Telescope after – was able to compare photographic plates he had made of assorted “nebulosities,” cloud-like patches of light, and found Cepheid variables embedded in them that proved the “nebula” in Andromeda was in actuality a separate galaxy some two million light-years from the Milky Way.

Using the Cepheid method, astronomers were able to calculate distances out to an estimated  three million light years, encompassing about 20 galaxies in what is now known as the Local Group of galaxies. Today, using the HST we can monitor Cepheid variables, as well as other very bright stars in galaxies, out to about a hundred million light years.

In 1925 the Swedish Academy of Sciences wrote to Leavitt concerning their intention to nominate her for the 1926 Nobel Prize in Physics. Sadly, she had died in 1921 due to stomach cancer. The Nobel Prize is not awarded posthumously.

In January, 2009, the American Astronomical Society passed a resolution recognizing Henrietta Leavitt’s contribution to astronomy: “The AAS Council recognizes the 100th anniversary of Henrietta Leavitt’s first presentation of the Cepheid Period-Luminosity relation, a seminal discovery in astronomy that continues to have great significance.  The Council was pleased to learn of a resolution adopted by the organizers of the Leavitt Symposium in which it was suggested that this important relation now be referred to as the ‘Leavitt Law.’  Although we recognize that the AAS has no authority to define astronomical nomenclature, we would be very pleased if this designation were used widely.”

One other honor has been accorded Henrietta, again posthumously. A crater on the Moon, crater Leavitt, has been named in her honor.

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SIDEBAR:

Find Delta Cepheus in the Night Sky

Finding Delta Cepheus in the night sky is quite easy. Using the two “pointer” stars at the end of The Big Dipper, trace a line to the North Star, Polaris, and continue on that same line almost exactly as far to the other side of Polaris, and voila’ – Delta Cepheus. If you observe over several nights, you will see that it appears to double in brightness. (Compare it against neighboring stars.) Its actual period for one complete cycle is 5 days 8 hours 37.5 minutes.