Henry Lee Giclas (December 9, 1910 – April 2, 2007) was an American

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 ...

and a

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 numb ...

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 ar ...

s. He worked at

Lowell Observatory Lowell Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. Lowell Observatory was established in 1894, placing it among the oldest observatories in the United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark ...

using the

blink comparator A blink comparator is a viewing apparatus formerly used by astronomers to find differences between two photographs of the night sky. It permits rapid switching from viewing one photograph to viewing the other, "blinking" back and forth between th ...

, and hired Robert Burnham Jr. to work there. He also worked on a notable

proper motion Proper motion is the astrometric measure of the observed changes in the apparent places of stars or other celestial objects in the sky, as seen from the center of mass of the Solar System, compared to the abstract background of the more dista ...

survey with several relatively nearby stars bearing his name such as

Giclas 99-49 GJ 3379 (Giclas 99-49) is the nearest star in the Orion constellation, located at a distance of 17 light years from the Sun based on parallax. It is a single star with an apparent visual magnitude of +11.31 and an absolute magn ...

. Henry Giclas is credited by 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 ...

with the discovery of 17 numbered minor planets between 1943 and 1978, including

2201 Oljato 2201 Oljato, provisional designation , is a stony and extremely eccentric active asteroid and sizable near-Earth object of the Apollo group, approximately 2 kilometers in diameter. It has an Earth minimum orbit intersection distance of and is a ...

– tentatively identified as the parent body of the "Chi Orionids"

meteor shower A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extre ...

– and

2061 Anza 2061 Anza, provisional designation , is an eccentric asteroid of the Amor group, a subtype of near-Earth objects, estimated to measure approximately 2.7 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 22 October 1960, by American astronomer Henr ...

, two near-Earth asteroids of the

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

and Amor group, respectively. He also discovered 84P/Giclas in 1978, a periodic comet of the

Jupiter family 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 ar ...

. Henry Giclas died of a stroke at the age of 96 in Flagstaff, Arizona. The crater '' Giclas'' on Pluto, as well as the asteroid

1741 Giclas 1741 Giclas ( ''prov. designation'': ) is a stony Koronis asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 13 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 26 January 1960, by IU's Indiana Asteroid Program at Goethe Link Observa ...

, discovered by the

Indiana Asteroid Program The Indiana Asteroid Program was a photographic astronomical survey of asteroids during 1949–1967, at the U.S. Goethe Link Observatory near Brooklyn, Indiana. The program was initiated by Frank K. Edmondson of Indiana University using a 10-inc ...

in 1960, are named for him.

References

External links

Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giclas, Henry 1910 births 2007 deaths American astronomers Discoverers of asteroids Discoverers of comets People from Flagstaff, Arizona