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George Ogden Abell (March 1, 1927–October 7, 1983) was an astronomer at UCLA. Events 86 BC - Lucius Cornelius Sulla, at the head of a Roman Republic army enters in Athens, removing the Tyrant Year 1927 ( MCMXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 3761 BC - The epoch (origin of the modern Hebrew calendar ( Proleptic Julian calendar) Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar) Historically Astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky while Astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena The University of California Los Angeles (generally known as UCLA) is a public research university located in Westwood Los Angeles, California, United He worked as a research astronomer, teacher, administrator, popularizer of science and education, and skeptic. In ordinary usage skepticism or scepticism ( Greek 'σκέπτομαι' skeptomai, to look about to consider see also spelling differences Abell received his B. S. (1951), M. S. (1952) and Ph. D. (1957) from the California Institute of Technology. The California Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Caltech) is a private, Coeducational research university located in Pasadena He began his astronomical career as a tour guide at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. Griffith Observatory is located in Los Angeles California, United States. Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West

His best known work was his catalogue of clusters of galaxies collected during the Palomar Sky Survey. Galaxy groups and clusters are the largest Gravitationally bound objects to have arisen thus far in the process of cosmic structure formation The Palomar Sky Survey is a complete Photographic survey of the whole sky which was made by the large Schmidt camera of the newly built Mount Palomar He analyzed their formation and evolution. He demonstrated that second-order clustering existed, disproving the hierarchical model of Carl Charlier. Carl Vilhelm Ludwig Charlier ( April 1 1862 &ndash November 5 1934) was a Swedish Astronomer. He also discovered how cluster luminosity could be used as a distance scale. Luminosity has different meanings in several different fields of science In Physics, length scale is a particular Length or Distance determined with the precision of one order (or a few orders of magnitude

The Abell catalogue is an almost complete list of approximately 4,000 clusters containing at least thirty members up to a redshift of z = 0. The Abell catalog of rich clusters of galaxies is an all-sky catalog of 4073 rich Galaxy clusters of nominal Redshift z = 0 In Physics and Astronomy, redshift occurs when Electromagnetic radiation – usually Visible light – emitted or reflected by 2. (See List of galaxy clusters. This page lists some of the more interesting Galaxy clusters and groups ) The original catalogue of clusters in the northern hemisphere was published in 1958. The extended catalogue, including clusters in the southern hemisphere, was published posthumously in 1987 in collaboration with Harold G. Corwin and Ronald P. Olowin.

Abell also co-discovered periodic comet 52P/Harrington-Abell. A comet is a small Solar System body that orbits the Sun and when close enough to the Sun exhibits a visible coma (atmosphere or a tail — 52P/Harrington-Abell is a periodic Comet in our Solar system. Together with Peter Goldreich, he correctly determined that planetary nebulae evolve from red giants. Peter Goldreich (born July 14, 1939) is an American astrophysicist whose research focuses on planetary rings Helioseismology and Neutron A planetary nebula is an Emission nebula consisting of a glowing shell of Gas and plasma formed by certain types of Stars when they die A red giant is a luminous Giant star of low or intermediate mass (roughly 0

Abell served for over twenty years as a faculty member at the Summer Science Program for high school students. The Summer Science Program (SSP is an intense six-week summer program for intellectually talented high school students The program memorializes him with its Abell Scholarship Fund. He was involved in the production of the educational TV series Understanding Space and Time and Project Universe.

Abell was passionate about debunking pseudoscientific claims such as those by Immanuel Velikovsky. Immanuel Velikovsky ( Иммануил Великовский) ( Vitebsk, June 10, 1895 ( NS) &ndash November 17, He was a co-founder of the Committee on Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) and contributed articles to their journal, The Skeptical Inquirer. The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry ( CSI) formerly known as the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal ( CSICOP) is a

Abell served as president of the Cosmology Commission of the International Astronomical Union and as president of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP is a scientific and educational organization founded in San Francisco in 1889. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1970. The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS is a Learned society that began as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820 to support astronomical research He was chairman of the UCLA Astronomy Department from 1968 to 1975 and chairman of the American Astronomical Society Education Committee. The American Astronomical Society (AAS sometimes pronounced "double-A-S" is a US society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals At the time of his death, he was to have become editor of the Astronomical Journal effective January 1, 1984. The Astronomical Journal is a monthly Scientific journal published by Institute of Physics Publishing on behalf of the American Astronomical Society New Year See also New Year The Ancient Romans began their consular year on January 1st since 153 BC Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar)

Asteroid 3449 Abell is named in his honour, as is The George Abell Observatory at the Open University in Milton Keynes, England. Asteroids, sometimes called Minor planets or planetoids', are bodies—primarily of the inner Solar System —that are smaller than planets but 3449 Abell (1978 VR9 is a Main-belt Asteroid discovered on November 07, 1978 by Helin E Open University is also the name of other institutions See Distance education or the Open Universities category for a list Milton Keynes ( ˌmɪltənˈkiːnz often abbreviated to MK, is a large town England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland

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See also

The Abell catalogue is an almost complete catalogue of approximately 4000 Galaxy clusters with at least 30 members to a Redshift of z = 0 The Abell catalog of rich clusters of galaxies is an all-sky catalog of 4073 rich Galaxy clusters of nominal Redshift z = 0
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