Jean-Luc Margot (born 1969) is a Belgian-born
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
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
professor who specializes in
planetary science
Planetary science (or more rarely, planetology) is the scientific study of planets (including Earth), celestial bodies (such as moons, asteroids, comets) and planetary systems (in particular those of the Solar System) and the processes of their f ...
s.
Career
Margot has discovered and studied several
binary asteroid
A binary asteroid is a system of two asteroids orbiting their common barycenter. The binary nature of 243 Ida was discovered when the Galileo spacecraft flew by the asteroid in 1993. Since then numerous binary asteroids and several triple a ...
s with radar and optical telescopes. His discoveries include
(87) Sylvia I Romulus,
(22) Kalliope I Linus,
S/2003 (379) 1,
(702) Alauda I Pichi üñëm, and the binary nature of
(69230) Hermes.
In 2000, he obtained the first images of binary
near-Earth asteroids and described formation of the binary by a spin-up process.
Margot and his research group have studied the influence of sunlight on the orbits and spins of asteroids, the Yarkovsky Yarkovsky (masculine), Yarkovskaya (feminine), or Yarkovskoye (neuter) may refer to:
* Ivan Yarkovsky (1844–1902), Polish descent Russian civil engineer
** 35334 Yarkovsky, a main-belt asteroid named after him
* Yarkovsky District, a district of T ...
and YORP effects.
In 2007, Margot and collaborators determined that Mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
has a molten core from the analysis of small variations in the rotation rate of the planet. These observations also enabled a measurement of the size of the core based on a concept proposed by Stan Peale
Stanton Jerrold Peale (January 23, 1937 – May 14, 2015) was an American astrophysicist, planetary scientist, and Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research interests include the geophysical and dynamical properties ...
.
In 2012, Margot and graduate student Julia Fang analyzed Kepler space telescope
The Kepler space telescope is a disused space telescope launched by NASA in 2009 to discover Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars. Named after astronomer Johannes Kepler, the spacecraft was launched into an Earth-trailing heliocentric orb ...
data to infer the architecture of planetary systems. They described planetary systems as "flatter than pancakes." They also showed that many planetary systems are dynamically packed.
Between 2006 and 2021, Margot and collaborators measured the spin of Venus with a radar speckle tracking technique. They measured the orientation and precession
Precession is a change in the orientation of the rotational axis of a rotating body. In an appropriate reference frame it can be defined as a change in the first Euler angle, whereas the third Euler angle defines the rotation itself. In othe ...
of the spin axis. They also measured the duration of the length of day and the amplitude of length-of-day variations, which they attribute to transfer of momentum between the atmosphere and the solid planet.
Since 2016, he has guided UCLA students in conducting searches for technosignatures with large radio telescopes.
Honors and awards
Margot was awarded the H. C. Urey Prize by the American Astronomical Society
The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...
in 2004. The 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.
...
9531 Jean-Luc is named after him.Small Body Orbital Elements
9531 Jean-Luc (1981 QK). JPL. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
References
External links
Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, UCLADepartment of Physics and Astronomy, UCLAPersonal web page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Margot, Jean-Luc
Living people
20th-century Belgian astronomers
Planetary scientists
People associated with radar
University of California, Los Angeles faculty
1969 births
21st-century American astronomers