J. Duncan Waldron is a Scottish
planetarium
A planetarium ( planetariums or ''planetaria'') is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation.
A dominant feature of most planetarium ...
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, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...
,
photographer
A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs.
Duties and types of photographe ...
, and discoverer of two
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 ''minor ...
s.
Duncan Waldron was born in
Glasgow, Scotland
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
. His first job was creating high quality reproductions of astronomical plates for the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh. On 10 October 1986 Waldron discovered the asteroid,
3753 Cruithne
3753 Cruithne is a Q-type, Aten asteroid in orbit around the Sun in 1:1 orbital resonance with Earth, making it a co-orbital object. It is an asteroid that, relative to Earth, orbits the Sun in a bean-shaped orbit that effectively describes a ...
, while serving at the UK Schmidt Telescope at
Siding Spring Observatory
Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia, part of the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) at the Australian National University (ANU), incorporates the Anglo-Australian Telescope along with a coll ...
, and on 21 November 1986, also discovered asteroid
5577 Priestley.
[Schmadel, Lutz D. Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. 5th ed. Berlin and New York: Springer (2003), 317 and 474.] In 1995, Waldron was first exposed to Paint Shop Pro because of the Observatory's early exploration of digital photography. This software inspired Waldron to manipulate photographs for artistic purposes, creating kaleidoscopic patterns. In 1998, Duncan Waldron and his family moved to
New South Wales, Australia
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
.
Notes
External links
Duncan Waldron at Redbubble
Discoverers of minor planets
*
Living people
Scottish astronomers
Year of birth missing (living people)
{{UK-astronomer-stub