An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden from the observer by another object that passes between them. The term is often used in astronomy, but can also refer to any situation in which an object in the foreground blocks from view (occults) an object in the background. In this general sense, occultation applies to the visual scene observed from low-flying aircraft when foreground objects obscure distant objects dynamically, as the scene changes over time.
Brian Geoffrey Marsden was a British astronomer and the longtime director of the Minor Planet Center (MPC) at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.
Schelte John "Bobby" Bus is an American astronomer and discoverer of minor planets at the Institute for Astronomy of the University of Hawaiʻi and deputy director of NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) at the Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, United States.
Brian A. Skiff is an American astronomer noted for discovering numerous asteroids and a number of comets including the periodic comets 114P/Wiseman–Skiff and 140P/Bowell–Skiff.
David Clifford Jewitt is a British-American astronomer who studies the Solar System, especially its minor bodies. He is based at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he is a Member of the Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics, the Director of the Institute for Planets and Exoplanets, Professor of Astronomy in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and Professor of Astronomy in the Department of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences. He is best known for being the first person to discover a body beyond Pluto and Charon in the Kuiper belt.
Marc William Buie is an American astronomer and prolific discoverer of minor planets who works at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado in the Space Science Department. Formerly he worked at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, and was the Sentinel Space Telescope Mission Scientist for the B612 Foundation, which is dedicated to protecting Earth from asteroid impact events.
The definition of the term planet has changed several times since the word was coined by the ancient Greeks. Greek astronomers employed the term ἀστέρες πλανῆται, 'wandering stars', for star-like objects which apparently moved over the sky. Over the millennia, the term has included a variety of different celestial bodies, from the Sun and the Moon to satellites and asteroids.
1604 Tombaugh, provisional designation 1931 FH, is a rare-type Eos asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 32 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 24 March 1931, by American astronomer Carl Otto Lampland at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, in the United States. It was named after the discoverer of Pluto, Clyde Tombaugh.
659 Nestor is a dark Jupiter trojan from the Greek camp, approximately 110 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 23 March 1908, by German astronomer Max Wolf at Heidelberg Observatory in southern Germany, and named after King Nestor from Greek mythology. The carbonaceous Jovian asteroid belongs to the 20 largest Jupiter trojans and has a rotation period of 15.98 hours.
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) defined in August 2006 that, in the Solar System, a planet is a celestial body that:
- is in orbit around the Sun,
- has sufficient mass to assume hydrostatic equilibrium, and
- has "cleared the neighbourhood" around its orbit.
1111 Reinmuthia is a very elongated asteroid from the background population, located in the outer region of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 11 February 1927, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg Observatory in southwest Germany. The F-type asteroid (FX) has a short rotation period of 4.02 hours and measures approximately 40 kilometers in diameter. It was later named in honor of Karl Reinmuth, the discoverer himself.
1164 Kobolda, provisional designation 1930 FB, is a stony Phocaea asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 7 kilometers in diameter. Discovered by Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory in 1930, the asteroid was later named after German astronomer Hermann Kobold.
1404 Ajax is a carbonaceous Jupiter trojan from the Greek camp, approximately 83 kilometers kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 17 August 1936, by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory in southern Germany, and named after the legendary warrior Ajax from Greek mythology. The assumed C-type asteroid belongs to the 40 largest Jupiter trojans and has a longer than average rotation period of 29.4 hours.
Julio Ángel Fernández Alves is a Uruguayan astronomer and teacher, member of the department of astronomy at the Universidad de la República in Montevideo. He is also a member of PEDECIBA,, and the Uruguayan Society of Astronomy. From 2005 to 2010, he was the Dean of the Universidad de la Republica's Faculty of Sciences. The asteroid 5996 Julioangel, discovered in 1983, was named after him.
2873 Binzel, provisional designation 1982 FR, is a stony Florian asteroid and binary system from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 6.5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 28 March 1982, by American astronomer Edward Bowell at the Anderson Mesa Station in Flagstaff, Arizona. The asteroid was named after astronomer Richard Binzel. Its 1.6-kilometer minor-planet moon was discovered in 2019.
1609 Brenda, provisional designation 1951 NL, is a stony asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 28 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 10 July 1951, by South African astronomer Ernest Johnson at the Johannesburg Observatory in South Africa, and named after his granddaughter, Brenda.
1585 Union, provisional designation 1947 RG, is a dark background asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 52 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 7 September 1947, by South African astronomer Ernest Johnson at the Union Observatory in Johannesburg, South Africa. The asteroid was named after the discovering observatory.
1941 Wild, provisional designation 1931 TN1, is an eccentric Hildian asteroid from the outermost region of the asteroid belt, approximately 20 kilometers in diameter.
Clifford J. Cunningham is a Canadian-Scottish professional astronomer and author of numerous books on asteroids.
Gonzalo Tancredi is an Uruguayan astronomer and full professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of the Republic in Montevideo, Uruguay. He is an active member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and investigator at Los Molinos Observatory.
