Eric Walter Elst (30 November 1936 – 2 January 2022) was a Belgian

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 o ...

at the

Royal Observatory of Belgium The Royal Observatory of Belgium (french: link=no, Observatoire Royal de Belgique, nl, Koninklijke Sterrenwacht van België), has been situated in the Uccle municipality of Brussels (Belgium) since 1890. It was first established in Saint-Josse ...

in Uccle and a prolific discoverer of

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the Solar System#Inner solar system, inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic o ...

s. The

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

ranks him among the top 10

discoverers of minor planets This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 num ...

with thousands of discoveries made at ESO's

La Silla Observatory La Silla Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Chile with three telescopes built and operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Several other telescopes are located at the site and are partly maintained by ESO. The observatory is ...

in northern Chile and at the

Rozhen Observatory Rozhen Observatory ( bg, Национална астрономическа обсерватория - Рожен, ''НАО-Рожен''; en, National Astronomical Observatory - Rozhen, ''NAO-Rozhen''), also known as the Bulgarian National Astron ...

in Bulgaria during 1986–2009. The minor planet

3936 Elst 3936 Elst, provisional designation , is a stony Vestian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 5 kilometers in diameter. The asteroid was discovered on 16 October 1977, by Dutch astronomer couple Ingrid and Cornelis ...

, a stony Vestian asteroid from the inner regions of the

asteroid 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 ...

, roughly 6 kilometers in diameter, was named in his honour.

Discoveries

Elst is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of 3866 numbered minor planets made between 1986 and 2009. Notable discoveries include 4486 Mithra, a near-Earth and

Apollo asteroid The Apollo asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids named after 1862 Apollo, discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth in the 1930s. They are Earth-crossing asteroids that have an orbital semi-major axis greater than that of the Earth ...

, 7968 Elst-Pizarro, which is classified as both asteroid and

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma, and sometimes also a Comet ta ...

, and more than 25

Jupiter trojan The Jupiter trojans, commonly called trojan asteroids or simply trojans, are a large group of asteroids that share the planet Jupiter's orbit around the Sun. Relative to Jupiter, each trojan librates around one of Jupiter's stable Lagrange p ...

s. His discoveries also include: *

binary asteroid A binary asteroid is a system of two asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the Solar System#Inner solar system, inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1 ...

s such as

4492 Debussy 4492 Debussy ( ''prov. designation'': ) is a dark and elongated background asteroid and binary system from the intermediate asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 17 September 1988, by Belgian astronomer Eric Elst at Haut ...

and

15268 Wendelinefroger 15268 Wendelinefroger, provisional designation ', is a stony, spheroidal, and binary Nysian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 3.4 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 18 November 1990, by Belgian astrono ...

, *

Amor asteroid The Amor asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids named after the archetype object 1221 Amor . The orbital perihelion of these objects is close to, but greater than, the orbital aphelion of Earth (i.e., the objects do not cross Earth's orbi ...

s such as 21088 Chelyabinsk, * and many

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 ...

asteroids such as 9936 Al-Biruni (outer MBA), 12838 Adamsmith (Koronian), 13058 Alfredstevens (Vestian), 13070 Seanconnery (inner MBA), and 13963 Euphrates which orbits in a 2:1 resonance with Jupiter. Minor planet articles also exist for 12696 Camus,

8116 Jeanperrin 8116 Jeanperrin, provisional designation , is a Florian asteroid and synchronous binary system from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 17 April 1996, by Belgian astronomer Eric Elst at the La S ...

, 22740 Rayleigh, 6267 Rozhen and 9951 Tyrannosaurus, among others.

Personal life and death

Elst was born in Kapellen on 30 November 1936. He died in Antwerp on 2 January 2022, at the age of 85.VVS
Death notice Eric W. Elst (1936–2022)
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elst, Eric Walter 1936 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Belgian astronomers 21st-century Belgian astronomers Discoverers of asteroids Discoverers of comets * People from Kapellen, Belgium

Discoveries

Personal life and death

See also

References