History
The star now known as Kapteyn's Star was originally cataloged by the Dutch astronomer, Jacobus Kapteyn, in 1898. While he was reviewing star charts and photographic plates he noted the star's very high proper motion of more than 8 arc seconds per year. Later, the star became referred to as Kapteyn's Star, in honor of its discoverer. At that time, it had the highest proper motion of any star known, dethroning Groombridge 1830. With the discovery of Barnard's Star in 1916, Kapteyn's Star dropped to second place, where it remains.
Read more about this topic: Kapteyn's Star
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today.... In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)
“The history of mankind interests us only as it exhibits a steady gain of truth and right, in the incessant conflict which it records between the material and the moral nature.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“This is the greatest week in the history of the world since the Creation, because as a result of what happened in this week, the world is bigger, infinitely.”
—Richard M. Nixon (1913–1995)