Hans-Emil Schuster (born September 19, 1934 in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

) is a German

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 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 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, who retired in October 1991. He worked at

Hamburg Observatory Hamburg Observatory (german: Hamburger Sternwarte) is an astronomical observatory located in the Bergedorf borough of the city of Hamburg in northern Germany. It is owned and operated by the University of Hamburg, Germany since 1968, although it ...

at Bergedorf and

European Southern Observatory The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, commonly referred to as the European Southern Observatory (ESO), is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental research organisation made up of 16 mem ...

(ESO), and was former acting director of La Silla Observatory. Since 1982, he was married to Rosemarie Schuster née von Holt (March 28, 1935 – September 18, 2006) He discovered periodic

106P/Schuster. He also discovered the comet C/1976 D2 (in the contemporary nomenclature, it was known as Comet 1975 II or 1976c), which was notable for its large perihelion distance of 6.88 AUbr>
the largest yet observed at the time. He discovered 25

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the 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 or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

s, including notably the Apollo asteroid

2329 Orthos 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

and the Amor asteroids

2608 Seneca 2608 Seneca, provisional designation , is a stony asteroid and sub-kilometer near-Earth object of the Amor group, approximately 0.9 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 17 February 1978, by German astronomer Hans-Emil Schuster at ESO's L ...

3271 Ul 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

3288 Seleucus 3288 Seleucus, provisional designation , is a rare-type stony asteroid, classified as near-Earth object of the Amor group of asteroids, approximately 2.5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 28 February 1982, by German astronomer Hans-E ...

, and

3908 Nyx 3908 Nyx is an Amor and Mars-crosser asteroid. It was discovered by Hans-Emil Schuster on August 6, 1980, and is named after Nyx, the Greek goddess of the night, after which Pluto's moon Nix is also named. It is 1–2 km in diameter and ...

. He discovered the

near-Earth asteroid 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). ...

161989 Cacus 161989 Cacus ( ''prov. designation'': ) is a stony asteroid, classified as near-Earth object and a potentially hazardous asteroid of the Apollo group, approximately 1 kilometer in diameter. It was discovered on 8 February 1978, by German astrono ...

, which was lost and not recovered until 2003. Schuster participated in the exploration, selection and testing of the sites of two ESO observatories: La Silla Observatory and

Paranal Observatory Paranal Observatory is an astronomical observatory operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). It is located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile on Cerro Paranal at altitude, south of Antofagasta. By total light-collecting area, it ...

(the latter is the VLT site). He also participated in two ESO Southern Sky Surveys: the ESO-B survey ("Quick-Blue Survey") completed in 1978 was the first deep optical survey of the southern sky; and the "Red Sky Survey". Photographic plates were taken with the ESO's 1-meter Schmidt Telescope at La Silla. He co-discovered the

Phoenix Dwarf The Phoenix Dwarf is a dwarf irregular galaxy discovered in 1976 by Hans-Emil Schuster and Richard Martin West and mistaken for a globular cluster. It is currently 1.44 Mly away from Earth. Its name comes from the fact that it is part of th ...

galaxy (with Richard M. West), and in 1976 also discovered the

Eridanus Globular Cluster Eridanus can refer to: Rivers *Eridanos (mythology) (or Eridanus), a river in Greek mythology, somewhere in Central Europe, which was territory that Ancient Greeks knew only vaguely *The Po River, according to Roman word usage * Eridanos (Athens), ...

, one of the most distant globular clusters in the galactic halo. In 1980, he discovered a type-II

supernova A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when ...

in the

galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...

NGC 1255. However, "Schuster's Spiral" ( Horologium Dwarf) is not named after him, but a different Schuster.

Honours

The

2018 Schuster was named in his honour. On 21 October 2011 he was awarded the rank of Commander of the

Order of Bernardo O'Higgins The Order of Bernardo O'Higgins ( es, Orden de Bernardo O'Higgins) is an award issued by Chile. It is the highest civilian honor awarded to non-Chilean citizens. This award was established in 1965 and named after one of the founders of the Chilean ...

in recognition of his important contribution to astronomy in Chile.

List of discovered minor planets

References

External links

The ESO/Uppsala Survey of the ESO(B) Atlas

cometography.com

Spider's Homepage {{DEFAULTSORT:Schuster, Hans-Emil 1934 births Living people 20th-century German astronomers Discoverers of asteroids *

Honours

List of discovered minor planets

See also

References

External links