“I don’t know of anyone more passionate about the night sky,” said Levy.
“When she found an asteroid, she’d say something like, ‘That was interesting. I’ll add it to my tally.’ But comets, they were priceless, they were beyond measure, they were holy in a way.”
Levy, part of the trio with Carolyn and her husband, Eugene “Gene” Shoemaker, that discovered the Shoemaker-Levy Comet 16 months before it crashed into Jupiter, will be the keynote speaker at the opening reception for NightVisions: Cultural Interpretations of the Night Sky, 6-8 p.m., Saturday, May 21, in the Coconino Center for the Arts. The exhibition, featuring Carolyn’s scientific contributions, will run through Aug. 27.
NightVisions 2022 is being produced by Creative Flagstaff in collaboration with the Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition. “It’s an elegant synthesis of contemporary artworks and astronomical artifacts that brings the vastness of the night skies into contemplative reach,” said CCA Exhibitions and Programs Director Julie Comnick.
“We are excited to showcase Carolyn’s legacy as a dedicated Flagstaff astronomer, along with her collaborations with her husband, Gene, with the inclusion of archival astronomical elements alongside the work of contemporary artists,” said retired U.S. Naval Observatory astronomer Chris Luginbuhl, president of the Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition, a non-profit organization that created NightVisions in 2001.
Carolyn and Gene’s children, Patrick Shoemaker and Christine Abanto, are part of the NightVisions planning team. “They were always going out in the field together and working on things together, whether it was looking for comets and asteroids at Palomar Observatory [in San Diego County] or geologic field work in search of craters, signatures of impacts, in Australia. They really got around the Outback,” said Patrick about his parents.
Carolyn, who became an astronomer at age 51, is quoted as saying, “I do not know what I have, but it looks like a squashed comet,” while studying films that revealed the fragmented comet pulled apart by Jupiter’s gravitational pull. For more than a year, the astronomers tracked the ill-fated space traveler on its collision course with the giant planet. The impacts started on July 16, 1994. The Shoemaker-Levy Comet dominated the news with its cosmic crash viewed around the world through telescopes and on television. Its rocky pieces pummeled Jupiter for six days, reportedly with the force of 300 million atomic bombs.
“Our parents were always close – she was not the wife who stayed at home – and they’d take us along on their adventures,” said Patrick. “I remember being out there camping with my parents before I was old enough to remember much of anything.”
Aside from NightVisions, Carolyn will be honored as part of the Diverse Universe Wall in the Astronomy Discovery Center being built at Lowell Observatory. The wall is expected to feature 70 biographies of space explorers past and present. “Just as no two planets, stars or galaxies are alike, neither are the people who study them,” said Susan Golightly, who nominated Carolyn for the honor. “Our goal is to inspire children to see themselves as future scientists by showing the human side of scientists from around the world – their unique life stories, challenges they’ve overcome, surprising hobbies and unusual career paths.”
Meanwhile, an interesting package of Martian rocks studied extensively by the Curiosity Rover has been named the Carolyn Shoemaker formation, a tribute initiated by USGS research geologist and astronaut trainer Lauren Edgar. “Carolyn was a real inspiration to many of us on this mission, which just goes to show how much of an impact she had on the field and many generations to follow.”
Among her many recognitions, Carolyn has been honored posthumously with the prestigious Astronomical League Award.
Carolyn Shoemaker died on Aug. 13, 2021, at age 92. “I don’t know of anyone more passionate about the night sky,” said Levy. FBN
By Bonnie Stevens, FBN
