Edward Emerson Barnard

Lore & Background

Barnard was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on December 16, 1857, to Reuben Barnard and Elizabeth Jane Barnard. His father died three months before his birth, so he grew up in an impoverished family with little formal education. His first interest was photography, and he became a photographer's assistant at age nine. He later developed an interest in astronomy, purchasing a 5-inch refractor telescope in 1876. In 1881 he discovered his first comet but failed to announce it; he found his second later that year and a third in 1882. While still working at a photography studio, he married the British-born Rhoda Calvert in 1881. In the 1880s, Hulbert Harrington Warner offered $200 per new comet discovery; Barnard discovered five and used the money to build a house. Amateur

Reader's Guide

Barnard's significance lies in his observational discoveries and pioneering astrophotography. In 1892 he discovered Amalthea, the fifth moon of Jupiter, the first new moon of Jupiter since Galileo in 1609 and the last satellite discovered by direct visual observation. He observed the gegenschein in 1882 and in 1889 saw a shadow pass over Iapetus as it passed behind Saturn's rings, providing early evidence of the 'spokes' of Saturn, later confirmed by Voyager 1. In 1892 he made observations of a nova and was the first to notice gaseous emissions, correctly deducing it was a stellar explosion. In 1895 he joined the University of Chicago as professor of astronomy, using the 40-inch telescope at Yerkes Observatory to photograph the Milky Way. With Max Wolf, he discovered that certain dark regions of the galaxy were clouds of gas and dust obscuring distant stars. His Barnard Catalogue, published in 1919, lists 182 dark nebulae (later expanded to 370), known as Barnard objects. After his death, his photographic atlas was published in 1927. His legacy includes numerous comets, the star that bears his name, and a lasting impact on astrophotography.

Did You Know?

• Barnard discovered the fifth moon of Jupiter, Amalthea, in 1892, the first new Jovian moon since Galileo.
• He discovered 15 comets between 1881 and 1892, three of which were periodic, and co-discovered two others.
• Barnard's Star, discovered in 1916, has a high proper motion and is the second nearest star system to the Sun.
• He was the first to discover a comet by photography, D/1892 T1 (Barnard 3), later recovered as 206P/Barnard–Boattini.

From Impoverished Orphan to Comet Hunter

Edward Emerson Barnard was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on December 16, 1857, into a family already shaped by grief. His father, Reuben Barnard, died three months before the boy's arrival, leaving his mother Elizabeth Jane (née Haywood) to raise him and a brother in poverty. With almost no formal education, young Edward found his first vocation in photography, becoming a studio assistant at age nine. In 1876 he saved enough to purchase a five-inch refractor telescope, and the night sky quickly consumed his attention. By 1881 he had spotted his first comet—though he never announced it—followed by two more that year and another in 1882. Still working at the photography studio, he married the British-born Rhoda Calvert that same year. When Hulbert Harrington Warner began paying two hundred dollars per new comet, Barnard claimed five discoveries in total and used the earnings to build a house for his family. Nashville's amateur astronomers, recognizing his gift, collectively raised funds to secure him a Vanderbilt University fellowship. He never graduated, yet the school would later grant him the only honorary degree in its history. In 1887 he joined Lick Observatory in California, launching a career that would transform observational astronomy.

Discoveries That Redefined the Solar System

In 1889, while watching the moon Iapetus transit behind Saturn's rings, Barnard noticed a shadow sweeping across the moon's surface. He did not recognize the significance at the time, but he had actually captured the first evidence of Saturn's spokes—dark radial shadows perpendicular to the ring planes. Those spokes were widely doubted for decades until Voyager 1 confirmed them. In 1892, Barnard made two landmark observations: he identified gaseous emissions from a nova, correctly concluding it was a stellar explosion, and he discovered Amalthea, Jupiter's fifth moon. That discovery was the first new Jovian satellite found since Galileo in 1609, and it remained the last moon ever found by direct visual observation rather than through photographic plates. By 1892 he had also observed the gegenschein, the faint counter-glow in the zodiacal light, unaware that Theodor Brorsen and T. W. Backhouse had described it earlier. His comet-hunting streak continued through 1892, with fifteen comets discovered between 1881 and that year, three of them periodic and two co-discovered with others. One of these, D/1892 T1, was the first comet ever found through photography and was recovered in late 2008 as 206P/Barnard-Boattini.

The Astrophotographer at Yerkes

In 1895 Barnard left Lick Observatory, where he had clashed with director Edward S. Holden over access to the larger instruments and broader research management issues, and took a professorship in astronomy at the University of Chicago. There he gained access to the forty-inch telescope at Yerkes Observatory. Much of his work during this period centered on photographing the Milky Way. Working alongside Max Wolf, he demonstrated that certain dark patches in the galactic sky were not empty voids but clouds of gas and dust blocking the light of more distant stars. From 1905 his niece Mary R. Calvert served as his assistant and computer. Barnard was a pioneering astrophotographer, and his systematic catalog of dark nebulae, the Barnard objects, ran from Barnard 1 through Barnard 370. He published his initial list of 182 such objects in a 1919 paper in the Astrophysical Journal titled "On the Dark Markings of the Sky with a Catalogue of 182 such Objects." In 1916 he made the observation that would become his most famous: the high proper motion of a faint star he came to call Barnard's Star, the second-nearest star system to the Sun after Alpha Centauri.

A Legacy Written in Starlight

Barnard died on February 6, 1923, in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, and was buried in his native Nashville. His posthumous legacy was immense. In 1927, Mary R. Calvert and Edwin B. Frost, then director of Yerkes Observatory, completed and published his exceptional collection of astronomical photographs as A Photographic Atlas of Selected Regions of the Milky Way. His name adorns a lunar crater, a Martian crater, a region on Ganymede called Barnard Regio, asteroid 819 Barnardiana, NGC 6822 (Barnard's Galaxy), and Barnard's Loop. Vanderbilt University named a residence hall after him, and Chattanooga's astronomy club carries his name as the Barnard Astronomical Society. Mount Barnard in California and even a baggage car on the Central Railroad of New Jersey's Blue Comet passenger train, which ran from 1929 to 1941, bore his name. During his lifetime he received the Lalande Prize and the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1892 and 1897 respectively, was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1903, received the Prix Jules Janssen from the French astronomical society in 1906, and was awarded the Bruce Medal in 1917. He was also an Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.