Hubblecast 116: Henrietta Leavitt — ahead of her time

Born in 1868, Henrietta Leavitt was an astronomer ahead of her time, whose work helped to revolutionise our understanding of the Universe. While working at Harvard Observatory, she began to study stars of fluctuating brightness. She made a crucial observation about these objects, which gave astronomers a new way to measure distances, ultimately leading to such impactful discoveries as the expansion of the Universe.

Credit:

Directed by: Mathias Jäger
Visual design and editing: Martin Kornmesser
Written by: Sara Rigby
Narration: Sara Mendes da Costa
Images: ESA/Hubble & NASA, ESO, Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, Harvard College Observatory, Huntington Library, California Institute of Technology, Digitized Sky Survey 2, M. Kornmesser, R. Gendler, Arnold Reinhold, Davide De Martin
Videos: NASA, ESA, M. Kornmesser, Luis Calcada
Music: Johan B. Monell (www.johanmonell.com)
Web and technical support: Mathias André and Raquel Yumi Shida
Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen