Frank Ross's Early Orbits of the First Irregular Satellites of Saturn and Jupiter
Abstract
Frank E. Ross, later the inventor of the wide-angle lens, photographic photometer, and correcting lens for large reflecting telescopes, developed for the 200-inch, that bear his name, was also an expert on celestial mechanics. After earning his PhD at Berkeley in 1901, he worked in Washington as chief assistant to Simon Newcomb, the leading astronomer of his time, until the latter's death in 1909.
W. H. Pickering, who had discovered Phoebe, the first distant, irregular satellite of Saturn, was unable to calculate an orbit for it. He asked Newcomb to do it, but the "grim dean of American astronomy" was too busy, and turned the task over to Ross to do, mostly on his own time. The young assistant succeeded, but spent many sleepless nights on the job. He and his brother Walter were also running a cigar store in Washington at the time. Charles D. Perrine at Lick Observatory discovered J VI and J VII, the first two similar satellites of Jupiter, in 1904 and 1905, and could not obtain satisfactory orbits for them either, even with Director W. W. Campbell's help. Ross then calculated their orbits also, again at a tremendous cost of effort. He used log tables, pencil and paper, and a simple adding machine for his computing tasks, as all "computers" (persons) did at that time. These three satellites were the first to be discovered by photography.- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2006
- Bibcode:
- 2006AAS...209.3304O