[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Asteroid Named For Journalist John Holliman

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109.  TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Contact:  Mary Hardin

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                    October 22, 1998

ASTEROID NAMED FOR JOURNALIST JOHN HOLLIMAN

     NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has named an asteroid in 
memory of CNN space correspondent John Holliman who was killed in 
a car accident on September 12.

     The asteroid, discovered by JPL astronomer Eleanor F. Helin 
on April 30, 1989 at the Palomar Observatory, will now be called 
6711 Holliman.  It has a diameter of about 10 kilometers (6 
miles). The asteroid's orbit is inclined 15 degrees to the 
ecliptic plane - the plane on which the planets orbit the Sun - 
and moves in an orbit between Mars and Jupiter.

     Holliman reported extensively on the role JPL played in 
space exploration.  He was the network's lead anchor for the 
Pathfinder mission to Mars in July 1997 reporting on the landing 
and the subsequent mission as the spacecraft sent back video from 
the planet's surface. 

     In the early 1970s, Helin initiated the Palomar Planet-
Crossing Asteroid Survey from Caltech's Palomar Observatory in 
Southern California, resulting in the discovery of thousands of 
asteroids of all types including 100 near-Earth asteroids and 20 
comets.  Currently, Helin is the principal investigator for the 
NASA/JPL Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program that detects 
near Earth asteroids using a United States Air Force telescope at 
Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii.

     JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology.

                             #####

----------
Archives located at:
http://www.meteoritecentral.com/list_best.html

For help, FAQ's and sub. info. visit:
http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing_list.html
----------