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阿薩夫．霍爾是19世紀美國的著名天文學家，不過他在天文界的地位，部分來自在背後支持他的女人。霍爾年輕時曾當木工學徒，後來入讀紐約中央學院，認識了他的幾何學教授，也是他後來的妻子安祖蓮．史蒂妮。當時，霍爾總愛在課堂上以數學難題挑戰這位老師，而比他還年輕一歲的「史蒂妮老師」卻總是把這些難題一一解答。可能就是這種特殊的交往，最終把兩人牽在一起。1877年8月，霍爾乘火星與地球大接近之際，希望利用美國海軍天文台的巨型望遠鏡尋找傳說中的火星衛星。他夜復一夜地觀測，卻一無所獲，最終他向妻子透露放棄的念頭，安祖蓮鼓勵他再多試一晚，結果就在那一晚，他找到了火衛一，在第七天，又發現了火衛二。女性在近代天文學的發展，其實功不可沒！
The discovery of the moons of Mars
Asaph Hall, famous 19th century astronomer, was fortunate enough to marry Chloe Angeline Stickney who had been his mathematics professor in college. During his days as a student, Hall would always challenge his teacher with problems he carefully devised, yet Miss Stickney never failed to solve them. In 1856 Stickney gave up her career to marry Hall. In August of 1877 Hall began searching for the legendary Mars moons using the U.S. Navy Observatory large telescope. Night after night he found nothing. He was on the verge of giving up, but Angeline encouraged him to have one more try. That night, he discovered Phobos, the first satellite. On the seventh night, he discovered Deimos, the second satellite. ■甄枝強 資深天文愛好者
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