Woman's scientific tips mainly assist astronomer (8)

I believe the answer is:

herschel

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'assist astronomer' is the definition.
'herschel' can be an answer for 'astronomer' (I've seen this before). I am unsure of the 'assist' bit.

'woman's scientific tips mainly' is the wordplay.
'woman's' becomes 'her' (belonging to a woman).
'tips' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (just the outer letters of the world).
'mainly' becomes 'hel' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'scientific' with its middle removed is 'sc'.
'her'+'sc'+'hel'='HERSCHEL'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for herschel that I've seen before include "William --, astronomer, discoverer of Uranus" , "German-born British astronomer, d. 1822 - European Space Observatory" , "William --, astronomer who discovered Uranus" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app