Erwin Schwab (born 1964) is a German amateur

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 ...

and

discoverer 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 nu ...

, who works at the

GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research The GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research (german: GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung) is a federally and state co-funded heavy ion () research center in the Wixhausen suburb of Darmstadt, Germany. It was founded in 1969 as th ...

, near Darmstadt, Germany."Neuer Asteroid entdeckt: Planet Darmstadt" (New asteroid discovered: Planet Darmstadt)
'' Frankfurter Rundschau'' 4 August 2010 He has discovered and co-discovered more than 80 asteroids from the

Starkenburg Starkenburg is an historical region in the State of Hesse, Germany, comprising the area south of the Main River and east of the Rhine, around the regional capital Darmstadt. Geography The region is named after Starkenburg Castle, above Heppen ...

, Tzec Maun and Taunus observatories . As volunteer scientist for the European Space Agency (ESA) he recovered

near-Earth object A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...

s 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, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ...

s.Minor Planet Electronic Circulars 2018-H30
/ref> From 2014 to 2021 he recovered 30 lost comets, which equates to about 25% of the worldwide proportion in that timespan. Using the Schmidt telescope at Calar Alto Observatory to search for a lost comet he discovered in 2019 a unique

variable star A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are classified as e ...

– the first known eclipsing stream-fed intermediate polar, cataloged as J1832.4-1627 (VSX-Id of

AAVSO 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 ...

: 000-BNG-512)

Biography

Schwab was born in

Heppenheim Heppenheim (Bergstraße) is the seat of Bergstraße district in Hesse, Germany, lying on the Bergstraße on the edge of the Odenwald. It is best known for being the birthplace of 4-time Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel. Geography ...

,Sabine Schiner
"'Darmstadt' schwebt zwischen Mars und Jupiter" ("Darmstadt" orbits between Mars and Jupiter)
, ''Darmstädter Echo'' 4 August 2010 where he started observing minor planets at the

Starkenburg Observatory The Starkenburg Observatory (german: Starkenburg-Sternwarte) is an astronomical observatory in Heppenheim, Germany. It was founded in 1970, and currently has about 150 members. The observatory was the venue for the 1997 and 2003 meetings of the ...

in 1981.Letter from International Astronomical Union
/ref>

Honors and awards

The

Observatorio Astronómico de La Sagra La Sagra Observatory ( es, Observatorio Astronómico de La Sagra; OLS; observatory code: L98) is an astronomical observatory located in the province of Granada, Spain. It uses four robotic telescopes both designed and built ( hardware and softw ...

in Spain has named the main-belt asteroid 185638 Erwinschwab in his honour.Minor Planet Circular # 66244, published 7 June 2009.

Discoveries

One which he discovered is named after his parents, Elfriede and Erwin Schwab. Schwab has discovered asteroids at Starkenburg, Tzec MaunAsteroid Astrometry and Reporting
, Tzec Maun Observatory wiki. as well as at the Taunus Observatory. Some minor planet are named for German cities such as 204852 Frankfurt, 241418 Darmstadt, and 243440 Colonia (Cologne), while the Jupiter-trojans 192220 Oicles and 221917 Opites are named after figures from Greek mythology. He also co-discovered , an unnumbered Apollo asteroid and

potentially hazardous object A potentially hazardous object (PHO) is a near-Earth object – either an asteroid or a comet – with an orbit that can make close approaches to the Earth and is large enough to cause significant regional damage in the event of impact. They ar ...

.Minor Planet Electronic Circulars 2009-D81
/ref>

List of discovered minor planets

Works

* ''Kleinplaneten-Entdeckungen in Deutschland'' (German). Epubli Verlag, Berlin 2016, .

References

External links

Erwin Schwab's Home Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwab, Erwin 20th-century German astronomers Discoverers of asteroids * Living people 1964 births 21st-century German astronomers