造父变星周光关系的发现者:亨丽爱塔·勒维特

The Discoverer of the Peripheral Light Relationship of Cepheid Variables:Henrietta Leavitt

亨丽爱塔·勒维特是美国天文学家,她一生致力于探索变星,观测到近2400颗造父变星。在观测变星的过程中,她还发现了造父变星周光关系,即在距离相同的情况下,造父变星的绝对亮度与光变周期成正比,这一发现使得宇宙间测距的数量级提高到百万光年。通过细述这位天文学家坎坷的科学生涯和她在恒星天文学方面做出的巨大贡献,呈现出女性在天文学发展中的重要地位与作用。

Henrietta Levitt was an American astronomer who devoted her whole life to exploring variable stars.In her short life,she observed nearly 2400 Cepheid variables.In the process of observing variable stars,she also found the relationship between the peripheral light of Cepheid variable stars,that is,under the same distance,the absolute brightness of Cepheid variable stars is proportional to the period of light change.The discovery raises the magnitude of cosmic distance measurement to millions of light-years.Through the detailed description of the astronomer’s bumpy scientific career and her great contribution to stellar astronomy,this paper shows the important position and role of women in the development of astronomy.