José Luis Ortiz Moreno

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José Luis Ortiz Moreno is an astronomer, and former Vicedirector of Technology at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (IAA), Spain. He leads a team working on minor solar system objects at the Sierra Nevada Observatory in Granada, Spain.

On July 29, 2005, Ortiz announced the discovery of a new Kuiper belt object which has been labelled 2003 EL₆₁.

Michael E. Brown and his team at Caltech had also had been observing 2003 EL₆₁ and had given it the nickname "Santa". Brown initially supported Ortiz and his team being given credit for the discovery. However, Ortiz later admitted that he had accessed Brown's public observation logs and research before announcing his discovery, if only to hasten publication; even when only public information was accessed, this possible breach of ethics is being investigated.

[edit] External links and references

• Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía
• One Find, Two Astronomers: An Ethical Brawl, The New York Times, September 13, 2005
• Astronomer denies improper use of web data, NewScientist.com, September 21, 2005