James "Gerbs" Bauer (born 1968, Michigan, USA) is an American astronomer who studies

comets 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 are ...

and related bodies. He was the first to quantify the seasonal surface changes on Neptune's moon

Triton Triton commonly refers to: * Triton (mythology), a Greek god * Triton (moon), a satellite of Neptune Triton may also refer to: Biology * Triton cockatoo, a parrot * Triton (gastropod), a group of sea snails * ''Triton'', a synonym of ''Triturus' ...

. He also observed the aftermath of the Deep Impact probe's collision with comet

Tempel 1 Tempel 1 (official designation: 9P/Tempel) is a periodic Jupiter-family comet discovered by Wilhelm Tempel in 1867. It completes an orbit of the Sun every 5.5 years. Tempel 1 was the target of the ''Deep Impact'' space mission, which photograph ...

. Currently, he is the deputy PI of the

Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE, observatory code C51, Explorer 92 and SMEX-6) is a NASA infrared astronomy space telescope in the Explorers Program. It was launched in December 2009, and placed in hibernation mode in February 2011, ...

mission. His analysis of the images of comet Hartley 2 taken by the WISE spacecraft revealed that the object was shedding mass. The asteroid 16232 Chijagerbs is named after him and his wife, Chija Bauer. They have one daughter and one son.

References

*http://scitechdaily.com/astronomers-reveal-the-true-identity-of-mysterious-centaurs/ *http://www.space.com/18364-comet-breakup-inner-solar-system.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20150524233040/http://scaapt.org/meetings/2013mtg1spr/report.pdf 1968 births Living people American astronomers Discoverers of minor planets {{US-astronomer-stub