Rooftop Astronomer

It was a clear autumn night in 1847. Maria Mitchell stood on the roof of her parents'' house on the island of Nantucket, focusing her telescope on a faraway star. Suddenly she realized that the faint, blurry light wasn''t a star at all—it was a comet! Maria Mitchell''s discovery changed her life. She became famous as the first acknowledged woman astronomer in the United States. During her many tra...