astronomy

Sherburne Wesley Burnham

Sherburne Wesley Burnham is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Sherburne Wesley Burnham rather than just read about it. In short: Sherburne Wesley Burnham (December 12, 1838 – March 11, 1921) was an American astronomer. For more than 50 years Burnham spent all his free time observing the heavens, mainly concerning himself with binary stars.

Key takeaways

Sherburne Wesley Burnham belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Sherburne Wesley Burnham to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Sherburne Wesley Burnham from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Sherburne Wesley Burnham (December 12, 1838 – March 11, 1921) was an American astronomer. For more than 50 years Burnham spent all his free time observing the heavens, mainly concerning himself with binary stars.

Biography Sherburne Wesley Burnham was born in Thetford, Vermont. His parents were Roswell O. Burnham and Marinda (née Foote) Burnham. He graduated from the academy in Thetford, and that was the extent of his schooling. He taught himself shorthand, and by 1858 was in New York City. Burnham was a reporter for the Union Army in New Orleans during the Civil War. While in New Orleans, he bought a copy of a popular book Geography of the Heavens, which piqued his interest in astronomy. After the war, he moved to Chicago and worked as a court reporter for over 20 years. At night Burnham was an amateur astronomer, except for four years (1888–1892) he worked as a professional astronomer at Lick Observatory. He left court reporting in 1902, but remained in Chicago. From 1897–1914 he was an astronomer at Yerkes Observatory.

Double star discoveries During the 1840s it was believed that essentially all the binary stars visible to the instruments then available had been found. Friedrich Struve (catalog abbr. Σ) and his son Otto Struve (catalog abbr. σ) had catalogued a good number of binary stars working at the Dorpat and Pulkovo observatories, using 23 cm and 38 cm telescopes. From 1872–1877, with his small 15 cm (5.9 in) telescope, Burnham found 451 new double stars, with the help of a European astronomer, baron Dembowski, who measured exact positions and separations of Burnham’s newly discovered binaries. In 1873–1874, he produced a catalog of double stars. He became a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He continued to identify double stars, and later published the General Catalogue of 1,290 Double Stars. In 1906, he published the Burnham Double Star Catalogue, containing 13,665 pairs of stars. The quality of Burnham's work opened the doors of observatories for him and he had access to more powerful instruments at Lick, Yerkes, and other observatories. He is credited with having discovered 1,340 binary stars. Burnham discovered the first example of, what would be called a half century later, a Herbig–Haro object, called Burnham's Nebula (now labeled as HH 255).

Honors He received the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1894. The French Academy of Sciences awarded him the Lalande Prize for 1904. The lunar crater Burnham and asteroid 834 Burnhamia were named in his honour.

References

External links

Note on Hind's Variable Nebula in Taurus, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 51, p. 94 (1890) Double star observations made with the thirty-six-inch and twelve-inch refractors of the Lick observatory, from August, 1888, to June, 1892, Publications of the Lick Observatory, Vol. 2, p. 175 (1894) Portrait of Sherburne Wesley Burnham circa 1890 from the Lick Observatory Records Digital Archive, UC Santa Cruz Library's Digital Collections

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sherburne Wesley Burnham

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sherburne Wesley Burnham claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Sherburne Wesley Burnham before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Sherburne Wesley Burnham ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Sherburne Wesley Burnham

In research: Sherburne Wesley Burnham appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Sherburne Wesley Burnham in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Sherburne Wesley Burnham is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1838 births, 1921 deaths, 19th-century American astronomers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sherburne Wesley Burnham outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Sherburne Wesley Burnham in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Sherburne Wesley Burnham means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Sherburne Wesley Burnham in simple terms?

Why does Sherburne Wesley Burnham matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Sherburne Wesley Burnham?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Sherburne Wesley Burnham.