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Asteroid Named For Carolyn Porco
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- Subject: Asteroid Named For Carolyn Porco
- From: Ron Baalke <BAALKE@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov>
- Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1998 15:28:17 GMT
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University of Arizona
21-Aug-98
Asteroid Named For University Of Arizona Scientist
ASTEROID NAMED FOR UA SCIENTIST
A Lowell Observatory astronomer has named an asteroid for planetary
scientist Carolyn C. Porco of The University of Arizona in Tucson. Porco
designed and produced the Eugene M. Shoemaker Tribute that flew on
the Lunar Prospector mission to the moon in January.
Ted Bowell of the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff discovered the 15-mile
diameter asteroid in October 1985. Discoverers of asteroids get the
privilege of naming them, with approval of the Small Bodies Names
Committee, which is under the authority of the International Astronomical
Union.
The description for Asteroid 7231 Porco reads:
"Named in honor of Carolyn C. Porco (b. 1953), planetary scientist at The
University of Arizona. A pioneer in the study of planetary ring systems,
Porco has made important contributions to our knowledge of spokes in
Saturn's rings, eccentric ring features in the systems of Saturn and
Uranus and the azimuthal structure in the rings of Neptune. Through her
contributions to the Voyager project and as the team leader for the
Cassini imaging system, Porco has been a leader in spacecraft
exploration of the outer solar system. In 1997, she originated the idea of
sending a capsule containing ashes of E.M. Shoemaker to the moon
aboard the Lunar Prospector spacecraft. Name endorsed by the
Shoemaker family."
Shoemaker, long a distinguished scientist with the U.S. Geological
Survey at Flagstaff, was best known for his work on extraterrestrial
impacts and for his later collaboration with his wife, Carolyn, in the study
and discovery of comets. He was killed July 18, 1997, in a car accident in
Alice Springs, Australia, during field research on impact crater geology.
Carolyn Shoemaker, injured in the accident, endorsed the asteroid
name.
Porco, quick to note that many planetary scientists have had asteroids
named in their honor, said, "Needless to say, I am 'over the moon' about
this."
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