Her Luminous Distance

 
The Harvard Plate Stacks is presenting a special exhibition, Her Luminous Distance: The Legacies of Women Astronomical Computers at Harvard, in the rotunda and dome of the Great Refractor at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. Free and open to the public, the exhibition celebrates the legacy of the Women Astronomical Computers and will illuminate to audiences the various disciplines and fields of study that have been inspired by these women and the astronomical photographs that they studied.
Aura Satz, Slide from 'Her Luminous Distance' based on a play
staged by the Harvard Human Computers in 1929, 2014
Visual artist, Aura Satz, will exhibit Her Luminous Distance in the dome of the Great Refractor. Inspired by Henrietta Swan Leavitt and the Women Astronomical Computers, the slide-based installation piece uses a blink comparator to juxtapose archival images of the Women Astronomical Computers in the workplace, craters on the moon named after women astronomers, as well as glass plates with annotations and marks made by the women, many of which were erased during the DASCH project. A blink comparator is a device used by astronomers to detect small pattern differences on astronomical glass plate photographs by alternating quickly back and forth between two images. Satz chose the format of a blink comparator to invite the viewer to consider the labor and expertise involved in this detailed work. Satz’s artwork will be on view with the Great Refractor telescope first used in 1847, and for its first 50 years not allowed to be used by women.
Aura Satz, Slide from 'Her Luminous Distance', 2014
The rotunda exhibition will feature profiles of a selection of the Women Astronomical Computers, highlighting their contributions while working at the Harvard College Observatory and other facts about their life and career in astronomy. The women selected for the rotunda exhibition have been chosen in order to bring forward those who have not been publicized or researched as much as figures like Annie Jump Cannon and Henrietta Swan Leavitt. There were over 146 women who stewarded and studied the hundreds of thousands of glass plate photographs in the observatory plate stacks between 1880-1960. Curatorial Assistants have been researching and writing biographies of these under-recognized women, making their stories more accessible and prominent for researchers and visitors to the collection. 

In addition to the featured Women Astronomical Computers, the Harvard Plate Stacks has asked people from various fields to reflect on the impact and legacy of these women who worked and dedicated their careers to astronomical discovery at the Harvard Plate Stacks. Their responses will be featured in the rotunda alongside the Women Astronomical Computers with information on how to learn more about their work with the Plate Stacks collection.
 
Her Luminous Distance: The Legacies of Women Astronomical Computers at Harvard will be on view from August 24-October 22, 2023.
Thursdays from 4-8pm
Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 1-5pm
Timed entry every 30 minutes. Please reserve timed entry in advance here. 

Located in the Rotunda and Dome of the Great Refractor at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian