An image captured by a telescope at the Grasslands Observatory in Arizona. The “x” is where E. E. Barnard saw his mystery star. Image courtesy of Tim Hunter et al. (2025)
Joel Kontinen
A star that
was spotted in 1892 by one of the most gifted astronomical observers of all
time but then apparently vanished has been found again – right where he lost
it.
Edward
Emerson Barnard was an accomplished astronomer, famous for his discovery in
1892 of a fifth moon of Jupiter, Amalthea, almost three centuries after Galileo Galilei saw the first four. But a few weeks
earlier, he had made an enigmatic observation that kept bothering him. A short
article he published about it in a journal in 1906 was headlined “An unexplained observation“.
Yes, a star was found and then lost. And now it has registered
once again.
By Bas den Hond 2025
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