When I was young, my father took me outside to see the stars. Once we saw a comet (彗星)! It was the first comet I’d seen but wasn’t the last.

My name is Caroline Herschel. I was born in Hanover, Germany in 1750. When I was 22, I moved to England to stay with my older brother, William. He was a musician and he offered me singing lessons. I helped him with housework in return. I practiced hard and soon started singing at his concerts.

Life changed when William became interested in astronomy. He read about space late into the night. Breakfast often turned into a lesson about stars. I learned a lot from him. And we even started working together on a big project: building telescopes—the special tools for seeing faraway things.

To make the perfect mirrors for our telescopes we heated metals and shaped them using special molds (模具). These molds were made from strange things, like dry horse waste. I had to break it into small bits. It was dirty work, but I didn’t mind. Someone had to do it.

Making the mirrors smooth was very difficult. William invented a machine to help, but he still had to work without stopping for hours once he began. He couldn’t even stop to eat, so I fed him and read stories to keep him happy and relaxed.

In 1781, William discovered something fantastic—a new planet! King George was so glad that he made William his astronomer. William made a telescope just for me. And I was able to search the sky along with him.

On August 1, 1786, I found something special too—a comet! I watched it carefully for one more night and discovered it was real. Now everyone is talking about my comet. They call it the Lady’s Comet.

This is the first comet I’ve ever discovered, but I don’t think it will be the last.

Historical Note: After Caroline discovered her first comet, King George paid her to be William’s assistant (助手). She was one of the first women astronomers to be paid for her work. She went on to find seven more comets herself between 1786 and 1797.