Felix Hormuth

Felix Hormuth (b. 1975) is a German astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) and a prolific discoverer of asteroids.[1][2] During his stay at the Calar Alto Observatory in Spain, he has discovered a large number of asteroids, including a Jupiter trojan and two near-Earth objects, such as the 15-meter Amor asteroid 2009 DS36,[3] using MPIA's 1.23-meter reflector telescope. The Minor Planet Center ranks him 128th for a total number of 71 discoveries he made during 2003–2009.[2] Hormuth has named his discovered main-belt asteroids 241475 Martinagedeck and 342843 Davidbowie after actors and song-writer Martina Gedeck and David Bowie, respectively. He has also named 18610 Arthurdent after the character in Douglas Adams's radio play and book The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.[4][5][6]

Hormuth has worked with data obtained by the Infrared Space Observatory,[7] was involved in the measurement campaign of the Very Large Telescope's GRAVITY-interferometer, and participated in the construction of optical instruments used at the NTT in La Silla, Chile.[1] As of 2016, he is a project manager at MPIA, working for the Institute's hardware contribution to ESA's space-based Euclid mission, which will accurately measure the acceleration of the universe for the study of dark energy and dark matter.[1]

The asteroid 10660 Felixhormuth was named in his honor by astronomers Lothar Kurtze and Lutz Schmadel. The outer main-belt asteroid, provisionally designated 4348 T-1, was discovered by Dutch and Dutch–American astronomers during the Palomar–Leiden trojan survey in 1971.[8] Based on an absolute magnitude of 13.9, it measures about 4 to 10 kilometers in diameter.[9][10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Felix Hormuth". Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. Retrieved February 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Minor Planet Discoverers (by number)". Minor Planet Center. 28 December 2015. Retrieved February 2016.
  3. ↑ "Near-Earth asteroid discovered from Calar Alto Observatory". Centro Astronómico Hispano-Alemán, Calar Alto Observatory. February 2009. Retrieved February 2016.
  4. ↑ "241475 Martinagedeck (2009 BK14)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved February 2016.
  5. ↑ "342843 Davidbowie (2008 YN3)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved February 2016.
  6. ↑ "18610 Arthurdent (1998 CC2)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved February 2016.
  7. ↑ Hormuth, Felix; Müller, Thomas G. (January 2009). "Catalogue of ISO LWS observations of asteroids": 1117–1138. arXiv:0901.4557. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/20066545. Retrieved February 2016.
  8. ↑ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2009). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (10660) Felixhormuth, Addendum to Fifth Edition: 2006–2008. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 50. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3. Retrieved February 2016.
  9. ↑ "Absolute Magnitude (H)". NASA/JPL. Retrieved February 2016.
  10. ↑ "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 10660 Felixhormuth (4348 T-1)" (2015-01-25 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved February 2016.

External links


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