Roy Scott Dunbar is an American
astronomer,
planetologist
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 fo ...
and discoverer of
comets and
minor planets.
Dunbar played an active role in the
Palomar Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey.
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
...
credits him with the (co-)discovery of 10 numbered
minor planets during 1981–1987.
His most notable discoveries include the
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 ...
and
Aten asteroid
3362 Khufu
3362 Khufu is a near-Earth asteroid. It was discovered by R. Scott Dunbar and Maria A. Barucci at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California, on 30 August 1984. Its provisional designation was 1984 QA. It is named after Khufu, an ...
, which he co-discovered with
Maria A. Barucci
Maria Antonella Barucci is an Italian astronomer at the Paris Observatory, Observatory-Meudon, Paris. She is credited by the Minor Planet Center with a total of 3 minor planet discoveries she made in 1984 and 1985. Most notably is her joint disco ...
, as well as the
near-Earth object,
Mars-crosser and
Aten asteroid,
3551 Verenia
3551 Verenia, provisional designation , is an Amor asteroid and a Mars crosser discovered on 12 September 1983 by R. Scott Dunbar. Although Verenia passed within 40 Gm of the Earth in the 20th century, it will never do so in the 21st. In 20 ...
. Together with
Eleanor Helin he co-discovered the minor planets
3360 Syrinx
3360 Syrinx (originally designated 1981 VA) is an Apollo and Mars crosser asteroid discovered in 1981. It approaches Earth to within 40 Gm three times in the 21st century: 33 Gm in 2039, 40 Gm in 2070, and 24 Gm in 2085.
On ...
,
6065 Chesneau
6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number.
In mathematics
Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second ...
,
6435 Daveross and
7163 Barenboim.
Dunbar and Helin also claimed the discovery of comet 1980 p, which turned out not to exist. It was a ghost image of
Alpha Leonis.
The main-belt asteroid
3718 Dunbar, discovered by Eleanor Helin and
Schelte Bus
Schelte John "Bobby" Bus (born 1956) is an American astronomer and discoverer of minor planets at the Institute for Astronomy (Hawaii), Institute for Astronomy of the University of Hawaii and deputy director of NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility ...
, is named after him.
Naming citation was published on 2 April 1988 ().
References
External links
Report and disconfirmation of ghost discovery 1980 p
21st-century American astronomers
Discoverers of asteroids
*
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
{{US-astronomer-stub