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•+TrnoE 20WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 196*IUomcm.Astronomer l/Ylak-r-WesV': 'mnBy DAVID SCOTTRICHMOND HILL, Ont., (CP) The case history of star No. 214946 lay in an orderly stack of computations on Ruth North-cott’s desk at the David Dunlap Observatory waiting for translation to manageable statistics.The heap of neatly printed figures would have cowed even the masterminds who devise train schedules, but to the newly 'elected president of the Royal Canadian Astronomical Society it was just another study.“Not that it’s dull, by any means,” Miss Northcott said. “Each one of these figures is like an old friend. I get a great deal of pleasure and a certain degree of excitement from investigating the stars.”Since she started her career in astronomy by chance in 1935, .Miss Northcott has been snooping in the firmament and exposing the secrets of obscure stars.Faintly glimmering No. 21494G might be just another collection of gases to the layman, but to cstrophysicist Northcott it represents another piece in the mammoth jigsaw puzzle o£ the heavens.STUDIES PHOTOSThe bulk of Miss Northcott's work is the interpretation of spectrographs, photographs ofroutes of stars as they arc picked up by the 74-inch reflector telescope at this observatory 15 miles north of Toronto.The only serious telescope peeping she has done was during the 1913-45 war years when the men were away and the work had to continue.The major Canadian contribution to the science of astrophysics has been the determination of the velocities of stars in the line of sight.j These velocities, Miss North-| cott explained, are called radial j velocities and a knowledge of ! them plays a major part in the | study of the dynamics and ! evolution of our star system.Also through a knowledge of radial velocities* the orbits of double stars about each other can be examined in detail. This information is of prime importance in understanding the story of the evolution of the stars . themselves.Miss Northcott explained that j i about one-third of all known \ ‘ radial velocities have been j determined in Canada where astronomy only started in 1839 | at Toronto, and then only with [primitive instruments.| WIDELY ACCLAIMED.| Results attained by'Canadian | astronomers in the field ^of spectroscopic double-star orbits, investigation of the very hot stars in our galactic system, a study of the motions of these stars, and studies of the dust and gnses of interstellar space have received international acclaim and recognition.That briefly and simply, is part of the work done by the^ smiling, middle - aged woman who this year became the third woman president of the Royal | Canadian Astronomical Society which was founded in 18D0.Miss Northcott is also editor of The Journal, the six-times-a-year publication of the Royal Canadian Astronomical Society, published since 1907.Her dedicated life in astron-omv started in 1934 when Miss Northcott was a sludont at Uie i University of Toronto.professor of astrophysics at the University of Toronto and has written numerous papers on“I wanted to be a teacher,[not an astronomer. But Dr. R. : K. Young changed all that.Dr. Reynold Kenneth Young : was, until his retirement in 1945,astrophysics and the absolute magnitude of the stars.“I was having trouble focus-:vS •Ruth Northcott, newly elected president of the Royal Canadian Astronomical Society, stands before the David Dunlap Observatory at Richmond Hill, Ont., where she works. Miss Northcott's work is connected with the interpretation of spectrographs — photographs taken through the observatory's 74-inch telescope of routes taken by stars..mg the spectrograph' at school and went to see Dr. Young,” she said.“He looked through my notebook and thought my figures and work in them were very neat, so he suggested I would make a good computer at the observatory which .was then about to be opened.“I took my masters degree in astronomy and came here when the observatory opened in 1935. I’ve been here since.”Although she spends hour after hour at a desk in hersunny office at the observatory. Miss Northcott says she likes the outdoors.“My hobbiek are bird watching and oil painting,” she explained, pointing at some examples of her painting of rural scenes hanging on the office'walls.As an enthusiast of 35-millimetre photography, Miss North-cott is also starting collections of. native Ontario flowers and native Ontario birds. She photographs the latter through a 4d0 - millimetre telephoto lens which works along the. same lines as the telescope through which her stars are seen.Another hobby pursued by hazel - eyed Miss Northcott is collecting a complete series of pictures of all the different kinds of fences in Ontario.“I want to try to complete my collection before many of thefences are tom down. I think they arc very interesting, but I’ll only photograph them in artistic settings.”ONE STAR S STORYBetween her lectures and hobbies this year the character of star No. 214946 comes under observation.Detailed readings of this star were taken between 1939 and 1958. Miss Northcott said sheOf St■r.ars^8will probably be working between now and the summer on that one star alone, one of someFour-Hour TestFor Pregnancy Is IntroducedTORONTO — After two years' research, a much faster pregnancy test has been introduced across Canada. It’s the ^latest in the long search for ways to show whether a blessed event isdue.The new test requires no animals and can be completed in four hours It achieves the same approximate standard of accuracy as the best of previous tests, claims the Toronto pharmaceutical firm which developed the test.Like older tests, it reties on detecting human chorionic gena-dotropin lt;HGG) in urine. HGG is a hormone secreted in early stages of pregnancy.Called the Ortho PregnancyTest, the method relies on the use of a special kit. This contains antibody and antigen materials, special plastic test tubes and a turbidity standard. Urine is mixed with materials, incubated, and the solution is later centrifuged. If the test is as cloudy as the turbidity standard, the result is positive: if it is clearer than the standard, it is negative.Tests were conducted with more than 1.300 women. On rare occasions when the test was in error it showed f3lse negatives .rather than false positives. This | is the opposite of the tendency 1 in animal tests. '50,000,000,000 that exist in our galactic system alone. Similarnumbers are believed to exist* %in other galactic systems.From 55 observations of the star made between ^939 and 1958, Miss Northcott said she must first bring all the readings into one chronological period which would make it appear the readings had taken place during 3.03115 days—or the time of the star’s orbit.From these figures, it con then be determined whether No. 214946 turns in a circular *or elliptical orbit.But even when she has figured out these brain-wrenching eo.uations, the work is four years old because that’s how far away in time the particular star is now.Frustrating?“Not a bit,” says Miss North-qott, “we have to start somewhere.”Wlt;AhCaficallmisa:daSaan i La iga |pr«m;retaatliCeTedu | Sa Re\SPARKLING SOLITAIREDiamond Engagement rings and Wedding bands, SpeciallyPriced .. IIIIIUpPay Only S3.00 W.ektyAll rings available in your choice of white or yellow gold.$250.00
Newspaper Details
Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba, CA
Wed, Mar 28, 1962
Page 20
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USA 11 Jun 2019
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