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Author
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Topic: Remembering astronomers Brian Marsden, Allan Sandage and Naum Kaidanovsky
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Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 11-18-2010 11:28 AM
   
The astrophysics community has lost three amazing people: - Brian Marsden (1937-2010) - director of the Minor Planet Center (MPC) at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
- Allan Sandage (1926-2010) - determined the first reasonably accurate value for the Hubble constant and the age of the universe
- Naum Kaidanovsky (1907-2010) - built the world's largest standalone radio telescope
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 11-18-2010 12:03 PM
The IAU Minor Planet Center electronic circular for Nov. 18 is devoted as a tribute to Brian Marsden. Another series of astronomical discoveries that greatly interested him were what he always called the "transneptunian objects", although many of his colleagues have insisted on calling them "objects in the Kuiper Belt". When what those same colleagues considered to be the first of these was discovered in 1992, Dr. Marsden immediately remarked that this was untrue, because Pluto, discovered in 1930 and admittedly somewhat larger in size, had to be the first. More specifically, he was the first to suggest, correctly, that three further transneptunian objects discovered in 1993 were exactly like Pluto in the sense that they all orbit the sun twice while Neptune orbits it thrice. This particular recognition set him firmly on the quest to "demote" Pluto. Success required the discovery of transneptunian objects more comparable to Pluto in size, something that finally happened in 2005 with the discovery of the object that came to be known as Eris. At its triennial meeting in 2006 in Prague, the IAU voted to designate these objects, together with two further transneptunian objects now known as Makemake and Haumea, as well as the largest asteroid, Ceres, members of a new class of "dwarf planet". |
jasonelam
Member Posts: 691
From: Monticello, KY USA
Registered: Mar 2007
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posted 11-18-2010 01:21 PM
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East-Frisian
Member Posts: 586
From: Germany
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 11-19-2010 01:58 AM
Great astronomers. R.I.P. |
GACspaceguy
Member Posts: 2476
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 11-19-2010 04:21 AM
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Jeff
Member Posts: 474
From: Fayetteville, NC, USA
Registered: May 2009
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posted 11-19-2010 11:17 AM
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dom
Member Posts: 855
From:
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted 11-19-2010 11:47 AM
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DChudwin
Member Posts: 1096
From: Lincolnshire IL USA
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 11-19-2010 12:15 PM
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Kite
Member Posts: 831
From: Northampton UK
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted 11-21-2010 11:24 AM
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cosmos-walter
Member Posts: 691
From: Salzburg, Austria
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted 11-21-2010 01:45 PM
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Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 12-02-2010 02:13 PM
Well-known Dutch astronomer:Adriaan Blaauw (Amsterdam, 12/04/1914 - 1/12/2010) R.I.P.
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Lunar rock nut
Member Posts: 911
From: Oklahoma city, Oklahoma U.S.A.
Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 12-03-2010 05:55 AM
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