Stewart Sharpless

Stewart Sharpless is an American astronomer who studied the structure of the Milky Way Galaxy and helped determine the shape of our galaxy. As a graduate student at Yerkes Observatory he worked under William Morgan with fellow graduate student Don Osterbrock [Shirley K. Cohen, [http://oralhistories.library.caltech.edu/141/01/Osterbrock_OHO.pdf Interview with Donald E. Osterbrock, Feb 10, 2003] , California Institute of Technology Archives] . In 1952, they published their observations that demonstrated the spiral structure of the Milky Way by estimating the distances to H II regions and young hot stars. For a while Sharpless was at Mount Wilson Observatory where he worked on galaxy photography with Walter Baade and Edwin Hubble.cite book |last= Steven |first= Dick|title= Sky and Ocean Joined: The U.S. Naval Observatory, 1830-2000|year= 2002|publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn= 978-0521815994 ]

In 1953 Sharpless joined the staff of the United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station. Here he surveyed and cataloged H II regions of the Milky Way Galaxy using the images from the Palomar Sky Survey. From this work Sharpless published his catalog of H II regions in two editions, the first in 1953 with 142 nebula [Stewart Sharpless, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1953ApJ...118..362S A Catalogue of Emission Nebulae Near the Galactic Plane] , "Astrophysical Journal," vol. 118, p.362, 1953] . The second and final edition was published in 1959 with 313 nebulae [Stewart Sharpless, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=1959ApJS....4..257S A Catalogue of H II Regions] , Astrophysical Journal Supplement, vol. 4, p.257, 1959] .

Stewart Sharpless is currently a retired professor emeritus at Rochester University.

References

External links

* [http://www.sharplesscatalog.com Photographic Sharpless Catalog]
* [http://archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_form Digitized Sky Survey]