Arne Henden (born 1950) is a retired

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

observational

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

, instrument and software specialist, and co-discoverer of a

minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''mino ...

. He formerly served as Director of the

American Association of Variable Star Observers The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) is an international nonprofit organization, founded in 1911, focused on coordinating, analyzing, publishing, and archiving variable star observations made largely by amateur astronomers. ...

(AAVSO). The asteroid 33529 Henden is named after him.

Early life

Henden was born in

Huron Huron may refer to: People * Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America * Wyandot language, spoken by them * Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec * Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

, but as the son of an engineer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, he would call several places home as he grew up with his parents and two sisters. His first astronomical brush happened when he had a chance to look at Saturn through the 24" Clarke refractor at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. Henden gained his Bachelor of Science in Astrophysics in 1972, and his Masters in Physics in 1975 both from the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

. In 1978 he continued to gain a Masters of Science in 1978 and a Ph.D. in 1985 in Astronomy, both from the

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship campus of Indiana University and, with over 40,000 students, its largest ca ...

Work

Henden moved to

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

to work on the

Large Binocular Telescope The Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) is an optical telescope for astronomy located on Mount Graham, in the Pinaleno Mountains of southeastern Arizona, United States. It is a part of the Mount Graham International Observatory. When using both ...

after gaining his doctorate. He also built several imagers and spectrographs for the 1.8-meter Perkins telescope. in 1992, he returned to work at the

United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station The United States Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station (NOFS), is an astronomical observatory near Flagstaff, Arizona, US. It is the national dark-sky observing facility under the United States Naval Observatory (USNO). NOFS and USNO combine a ...

(NOFS) as a Senior Research Scientist, the site where his love for astronomy first started. At NOFS, he specialized in visual and near-IR imaging systems and co-discovered 239046 Judysyd, a faint asteroid of the

main-belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...

, in collaboration with astronomer Stephen Levine on 25 February 2006. Henden was also part of the team that created specifications for the Discovery Channel's 4.2m telescope. He has also worked on the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and consulted for the Radio Astronomy Institute in developing a robotic observatory near the Grand Canyon. In the Spring of 2004, Henden was named Director of the

(AAVSO), an organization he had long been a member of. Henden has authored more than 100 articles in peer-reviewed publications as either primary or co-author. Henden has also positioned himself as a specialist in

photometry Photometry can refer to: * Photometry (optics), the science of measurement of visible light in terms of its perceived brightness to human vision * Photometry (astronomy), the measurement of the flux or intensity of an astronomical object's electro ...

by writing one of the classic texts in the subject: ''Astronomical Photometry'' (1978: Willman-Bell) Henden has worked extensively with amateurs interested in variable stars and minor planet astrometry mainly through the AAVSO.

Awards and honors

He was elected a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2020. 33529 Henden, a main-belt asteroid discovered by American amateur astronomer Charles Juels in 1999, was officially named in his honor by

IAU The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach ...

's Minor Planet Center on 18 September 2005 ().

References

External links

Arne Henden Biography
at AAVSO
AAVSO Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Henden, Arne 1950 births Living people American astronomers Discoverers of minor planets Indiana University Bloomington alumni Ohio State University faculty People from Huron, South Dakota University of New Mexico alumni Fellows of the American Astronomical Society