Henrietta Hill Swope | |
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Born | |
Died | November 24, 1980 | (aged 78)
Alma mater | Barnard College (BA) Radcliffe College (MA) |
Known for | Distances to Galaxies |
Awards | Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy (1968) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Astronomy |
Institutions | Carnegie Institution for Science Harvard College Observatory |
Henrietta Hill Swope (October 26, 1902 – November 24, 1980)[2] was an American astronomer who studied variable stars. In particular, she measured the period-luminosity relation for Cepheid stars, which are bright variable stars whose periods of variability relate directly to their intrinsic luminosities. Their measured periods can therefore be related to their distances and used to measure the size of the Milky Way and distances to other galaxies.