SHE SPENT HER NIGHTS LOOKING INTO THE DARK AND FOUND THINGS NOBODY HAD SEEN BEFORE

For much of history, Caroline Herschel was described as the assistant to her famous astronomer brother William.

That's a rather inadequate description of a woman who discovered eight comets.

Born in Hanover in 1750, Caroline originally came to England to join her brother and pursue a career as a singer.

Instead, the stars got in the way.

William became obsessed with astronomy and Caroline joined him.

Night after night she recorded observations, performed calculations and helped catalogue the heavens.

Then she began searching the sky herself.

And finding things.

In 1786, Caroline discovered her first comet.

Then another.

And another.

Over roughly a decade, she discovered eight comets, as well as contributing enormously to astronomical cataloguing.

King George III awarded her a salary for her astronomical work — an extraordinary achievement for a woman in the eighteenth century.

In 1828, when Caroline was in her late seventies, the Royal Astronomical Society awarded her its Gold Medal.

Then in 1835, Caroline Herschel and Mary Somerville became the first women admitted as honorary members of the Society.

Caroline lived until the age of 97.

There is something wonderfully steampunk about her story.

Before electronics. Before computers. Before digital telescopes.

A woman standing beneath the night sky with brass instruments, handwritten calculations and a telescope, searching the darkness for something nobody else knew was there.

And finding it.

Women Who Built the Future — Steampunk Australia

Leading to the launch of Wrinkles in the Fabric with Dr Kathryn Spurling, conversations with remarkable women over 55.

Because sometimes the most interesting part of someone's story comes after the world expects them to have finished telling it.

The Royal Society records Herschel's eight comet discoveries and her astronomical work, while the Royal Astronomical Society records her 1828 Gold Medal and 1835 honorary membership.