Carolyn Hurless (November 24, 1934 – February 13, 1987) was an American astronomer and an American Association of Variable Star Observers merit award winner. She made an estimated 78,876 astronomical observations in her lifetime.

Life

Carolyn Hurless was born in Lima, Ohio on November 24, 1934 to Frank R. Klaserner and Charlotte Jane Foster Klaserner. Hurless advocated for a trick she called "heavy breathing" in an effort to detect very faint variable stars, which she learned from her mentor, Leslie Peltier. The technique consisted of hyperventilating through the nose before putting the eye to the telescope eyepiece. This would cause a rush of oxygen to the brain and eyes, affecting enhanced alertness. Then, while scanning the field, breathing should slow, still through the nose, until focusing on a target, when breath should again speed up.

Aside from those involving light curves, many of Hurless' contributions throughout her career dealt with the discovery and observation of variable stars, a status that categorizes stars whose visibility varies based on either the brilliance of the star itself (intrinsic) or on the amount of emitted visible light that reaches Earth's atmosphere (extrinsic). Her first variable observation captured SS Cygni, a dwarf nova star in the constellation Cygnus.

Dwarf novae are a class of intrinsic variable stars of the cataclysmic variety, meaning their brilliance changes as a result of the fluctuating nature of the energy generated by thermonuclear interactions. Since SS Cyg's discovery in 1896, it has undergone an estimated 800 cataclysmic outbursts. Hurless observed one such outburst in 1959 under the guidance of Peltier with a considerably large magnitude of 8.1-12.0.

Variable Views Newsletter

thumb|alt="Variable Views" Cover, Sept. 1977|"Variable Views" Cover, Sept. 1977

The original purpose for Variable Views was to serve as a forum where observers could describe themselves and their observations. The newsletter became popular, with increasing length of entries and articles, eventually including the presentation of entire published articles. Subscribers were mostly other active observers who would occasionally gather at the Hurless' house for summer meetings. Hurless eventually ended the newsletter because it became too long with too many subscribers and the costs of producing it became too burdensome.

Obituary

Mattei, Janet: Carolyn J. Hurless, 1934 - 1987: AAVSO's enthusiastic ambassador. Journal of the American Association of Variable Star Observers, Vol. 16, No. 1, p. 35 - 36. [https://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1987JAVSO..16...35M]

References

  • Asteroid 3434 Hurless