18117 Jonhodge

18117 Jonhodge (2000 NY23) is a Main-belt asteroid discovered on July 5, 2000 by the LONEOS program at the Anderson Mesa Station of the Lowell Observatory near Flagstaff, Arizona. It was named in honor of Jon Hodge.

Naming of asteroid

Named in honor and recognition of Jonathan T. Hodge ("Jon Hodge") (b. 1948 – January 4, 2006), with the following citation:

"Jonathon Hodge (b. 1948) has taught at California's Santa Monica College for more than 30 years and has made an enormous contribution to the dissemination of astronomy and science to college students, schoolchildren and the general public."

Hodge taught at Santa Monica College and served as the director (1976–2005) of the Santa Monica College Planetarium (now Drescher Planetarium), following an earlier period as a regular lecturer at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. Hodge also coordinated an annual astronomical lecture series at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Hodge, along with astronomy professor “Woody” Sobel [Heywood Sobel], was instrumental in encouraging Robert P. Lozano to establish the Santa Monica Amateur Astronomy Club in 1981. Hodge was a member of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and the International Planetarium Society. Hodge in his younger years majored in astronomy and graduated from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles with a degree in the history of medieval science, a side interest that would serve him well during his career in education and planetariums.

Proposal for asteroid honor by Thor Dockweiler to Simon P. Balm (UCLA and Santa Monica College), who then submitted it to Donald K. Yeomans at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

References

• Minor Planet Circulars, 2005 December 15.
• History of the Santa Monica Amateur Astronomy Club: A Beginning – First Edition, Chapter 4: "Gentleman Extraordinaire – The Legacy of Jonathan T. Hodge", 2006, ISBN 0-9788745-5-2.

External links

• JPL Small-Body Database Browser on 18117 Jonhodge