READING THE ARTICLES in this issue about Williamina Fleming and E.E. Barnard, has made me reflect on how much we owe to these and other giants of the astronomy world, now long since gone. This holds true for all aspects of astrophysics — e.g. planetary studies, solar physics — but perhaps for none more so than the pioneers of the deep sky. Without their tireless efforts, our species would have had absolutely no clue about the nature, size and scale of our cosmos and where we fit into it.
Just think — it’s not much more than 100 years ago that most astronomers believed that our Milky Way galaxy was the full extent of the universe. They had no idea that there were other galaxies beyond, nor were they even fully aware of the nature of many of the exotic objects contained within our galaxy.
It was people such as Fleming and Barnard and others, who painstakingly observed, catalogued and analysed the stars, nebulae and galaxies and came to reveal their distances, sizes and compositions. In the space of a century, we’ve gone from the cosmos being just one galaxy to one that contains uncounted billions; and we’ve gone from measuring the night sky in the thousands of light-years, to looking back billions of years almost to the Big Bang itself.
So the next time you look at a deep sky object, spare a thought for those who saw them first and helped work out just what they are.

Jonathan Nally, Editor
[email protected]

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• Astronomy Technology Today – Vol 17, Issue 6, 2023
• AI – June 2023