David J. Lane (astronomer)

David J. Lane (born 1963) is a Canadian astronomer at Saint Mary's University, the past president of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, director of the Burke-Gaffney astronomical observatory,^[1] owner of the Abbey-Ridge Observatory,^[2] and creator of the planetarium software entitled the Earth Centered Universe.^[3] Asteroid 117032 Davidlane is named in his honour, and the asteroid lies in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Lane, and fellow Canadian astronomer Paul Gray, discovered supernovas 1995F in NGC 2726,^[4] SN 2005B in UGC 11066, and 2005ea in MCG+10-16-61.^[5]

Lane was a featured guest on comet hunter David H. Levy's internet radio show: Let's Talk Stars.^[6]

Kathryn Aurora Gray examined images acquired by Lane via his Abbey-Ridge Observatory and discovered a supernova in UGC 3378 (SN 2010lt). Kathryn subsequently became the youngest person to have discovered a supernova.^[7] Observations from Lane's astronomical observatory have also been used to improve the cosmic distance ladder.^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ The Burke-Gaffney Observatory
2. ↑ The Abbey-Ridge Observatory
3. ↑ The Earth Centered Universe Planetarium Software
4. ↑ Lane, D. J.; Gray, P.; Filippenko, A. V.; Barth, A. J."Supernova 1995F in NGC 2726". IAU Circ. , 6138, 1, 1995
5. ↑ Lane, D. J.; Gray, P."Supernova 2005ea in MGC+10-16-61". Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams, 224, 1, 2005
6. ↑ David & Wendee Levy's Let's Talk Stars, 10/03/06
7. ↑ BBC: Canadian girl youngest to discover supernova
8. ↑ Turner, D., Majaess, D., Lane, D., Rosvick, J., Henden, A., Balam, D.,"The Galactic Calibration of the Cepheid Period-Luminosity Relation and its Implications for the Universal Distance Scale", Odessa variable stars 2010 conference proceedings, edited by I. Andronov and V. Kovtyukh, 2010.