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Mark Trueblood is an American engineer and astronomer. He pioneered the development of robotic telescopes, as the author of several articles and two books, including Microcomputer Control of Telescopes and Telescope Control, co-authored with Russell M. Genet. Trueblood worked on the Gemini Observatory. He is the owner and operator of Winer Observatory in Sonoita, Arizona, which is the site of several professional research projects. [1] The asteroid 15522 Trueblood is named in his honor. [2]
Trueblood was born in 1948 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and spent most of his childhood there, where his parents encouraged his interest in astronomy. At the age of 12, he read Jean Texereau's book "How to Make a Telescope" and ordered a mirror-grinding kit from what was then the Edmund Scientific Company. He completed a 6-inch f/8 mirror and the telescope when he was 14, the same year his father's company transferred the family to Geneva, Switzerland for two years. Mark attended the International School of Geneva during the years 1962–1964, returning to Cincinnati the summer of 1964. He graduated from Finneytown High School in June, 1966 as the Salutatorian of his class. He went on to Brown University that autumn, where he graduated in May 1971 with the degrees AB-ScB (Honors) in Physics. He attended the Ph.D. program at Wesleyan University for one year, then moved to the Washington, D.C., area in the autumn of 1972. There he worked for the Smithsonian Institution for two years, then a succession of "Beltway Bandit" software government contractors, primarily on contracts with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. During his 18 years in the Washington, D.C., area, he spent his final nine years with the Ford Aerospace Corporation, rising to the position of Program Manager. Among his assignments at Ford, he headed the development of the Hubble Space Telescope control center at GSFC. While in the DC area, Trueblood attended the University of Maryland and earned his master's degree in Astronomy in 1983. Michael F. A'Hearn, the Deep Impact Principal Investigator, supervised his thesis on "Small Telescope Automation."
In 1990, Trueblood moved to Tucson, Arizona, to assume a position with the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO, now NOIRLab, which served as the US national observatory) at the National Solar Observatory. There he worked for almost four years on the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) program as a software engineer. He began work in December 1994 in what was then the NOAO Gemini Science Center, assisting the NGSC Director in overseeing the development of instruments in the US for the Gemini 8-meter telescopes. In 2012, Trueblood left NOAO to join the OSIRIS-ReX project at the University of Arizona. He retired in 2013, but still tracks Near Earth Objects (asteroids and comets with the potential of striking Earth) using regional 2-meter class telescopes.
The Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) is a United States astronomical observatory located on Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono Oʼodham Nation, 88 kilometers (55 mi) west-southwest of Tucson, Arizona. With more than twenty optical and two radio telescopes, it is one of the largest gatherings of astronomical instruments in the Earth's northern hemisphere.
Carolyn Jean Spellmann Shoemaker was an American astronomer and a co-discoverer of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9. She discovered 32 comets and more than 500 asteroids.
The National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) was the United States national observatory for ground-based nighttime ultraviolet-optical-infrared (OUVIR) astronomy. The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded NOAO to provide forefront astronomical research facilities for US astronomers. Professional astronomers from any country in the world could apply to use the telescopes operated by NOAO under the NSF's "open skies" policy.
The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
Anton M.J. "Tom" Gehrels was a Dutch–American astronomer, Professor of Planetary Sciences, and Astronomer at the University of Arizona, Tucson.
Korado Korlević is a Croatian teacher and prolific amateur astronomer, who ranks among the world's top 20 discoverers of minor planets. As of 2016, he is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of 1162 numbered minor planets he made at Višnjan Observatory during 1996–2001. In addition, he is credited with the co-discovery of another 132 minor planets. His discoveries include the slowly-rotating outer main-belt asteroid 10415 Mali Lošinj, and 10645 Brač, a member of the Eunomia family of asteroids. He has also discovered two comets, namely 183P/Korlević-Jurić and 203P/Korlević.
William Kwong Yu Yeung is a Hong Kong-born, Canadian amateur astronomer with telescopes based in the United States.
Winer Observatory is an astronomical observatory near Sonoita, Arizona in the United States. It is a private, non-profit observatory, operated by Mark and Pat Trueblood since 1983. It has been the site of a number of significant small telescopes and famous robotic telescopes, including the Iowa Robotic Observatory, Michael Schwartz's supernova survey telescope, and the Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope that discovered over 30 exoplanets. It now houses the Iowa telescope, a telescope owned by a university in Poland, and the Sutter Survey telescope owned by asteroid mining company TransAstra.
The MDM Observatory is an optical astronomical observatory located adjacent to Kitt Peak National Observatory on Kitt Peak, west of Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. It is owned and operated by the University of Michigan, Dartmouth College, Ohio State University, Columbia University, and Ohio University. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was also part of the operating consortium in the past.
Mount Lemmon Survey (MLS) is a part of the Catalina Sky Survey with observatory code G96. MLS uses a 1.52 m (60 in) cassegrain reflector telescope operated by the Steward Observatory at Mount Lemmon Observatory, which is located at 2,791 meters (9,157 ft) in the Santa Catalina Mountains northeast of Tucson, Arizona.
James Whitney Young is an American astronomer who worked in the field of asteroid research. After nearly 47 years with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at their Table Mountain Facility, Young retired July 16, 2009.
168P/Hergenrother is a periodic comet in the Solar System. The comet originally named P/1998 W2 returned in 2005 and got the temporary name P/2005 N2. The comet was last observed in January 2020, and may have continued fragmenting after the 2012 outburst.
The Junk Bond Observatory is located in the Sonoran Desert at Sierra Vista, Arizona, United States.
Stephen J. Edberg is a scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He is perhaps best known for creating collaborative efforts between amateur and professional astronomers. A professional astronomer since 1970, Edberg still considers himself to be an active amateur astronomer as well and is an active astronomical observer, photographer, and telescope maker. He presently serves as staff astronomer for the Solar System Exploration website posted by NASA Headquarters and staff scientist for Earth science communication and for Exoplanet Exploration communication.
Puckett Observatory is a private astronomical observatory located in the state of Georgia. It is owned and operated by Tim Puckett. Its primary observation goals are the study of comets and the discovery of supernovae. To facilitate the latter goal it sponsors the Puckett Observatory World Supernova Search whose astronomers have discovered 369 supernovae.
Víctor Manuel Blanco was a Puerto Rican astronomer who in 1959 discovered Blanco 1, a galactic cluster. Blanco was the second Director of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, which had the largest telescope in the Southern Hemisphere at the time. In 1995, the 4-meter telescope was dedicated in his honor and named the Víctor M. Blanco Telescope; it is also known as the "Blanco 4m."
354P/LINEAR, provisionally designated P/2010 A2 (LINEAR), is a small main-belt asteroid that was impacted by another asteroid sometime before 2010. It was discovered by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) at Socorro, New Mexico on 6 January 2010. The asteroid possesses a dusty, X-shaped, comet-like debris trail that has remained nearly a decade since impact. This was the first time a small-body collision had been observed; since then, minor planet 596 Scheila has also been seen to undergo a collision, in late 2010. The tail is created by millimeter-sized particles being pushed back by solar radiation pressure.
Michel Ory is a Swiss amateur astronomer and a prolific discoverer of minor planets and comets.
Howard J. Brewington is an American comet discoverer and former professional telescope operator of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
Tenagra Observatory and Tenagra Observatory II are astronomical observatories in Cottage Grove, Oregon and Arizona. The observatories house heavily automated robotic telescopes.
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