Reta F. Beebe (born October 10, 1936 in Baca County Colorado) is 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 ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, and popularizer of

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

. She is an expert on the planets

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...

and

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

, and the author of ''Jupiter: The Giant Planet''. She is a

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

in the Astronomy Department at

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's tw ...

and 2010 winner of the

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Exceptional Public Service medal.Associated Press (15 September 2010
"NASA Medal Awarded to NMSU Astronomer"
''Alubuquerque Journal'' Beebe spent many years helping to plan and manage NASA missions, including the

Voyager program The Voyager program is an American scientific program that employs two robotic interstellar probes, ''Voyager 1'' and ''Voyager 2''. They were launched in 1977 to take advantage of a favorable alignment of Jupiter and Saturn, to Flyby (spacef ...

missions to the giant planets. Her specific research interest was the atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn,

Uranus Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun. Its name is a reference to the Greek god of the sky, Uranus (mythology), Uranus (Caelus), who, according to Greek mythology, was the great-grandfather of Ares (Mars (mythology), Mars), grandfather ...

, and

Neptune Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the farthest known planet in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 times ...

. She designed experiments to the study and measure the clouds and winds of the giant planets. She worked interpreting the

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

and Cassini data and used the

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most versa ...

to obtain additional atmospheric data on Jupiter and Saturn. She was a member of the Shoemaker/Levy team at the

Space Telescope Science Institute The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), science operations and mission operations center for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and science operations center for th ...

in 1994 when the comet struck Jupiter. Formerly, she chaired the Committee for Planetary and Lunar Exploration (COMPLEX), which is the principal space committee of the

United States National Research Council The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (also known as NASEM or the National Academies) are the collective scientific national academy of the United States. The name is used interchangeably in two senses: (1) as an umbrell ...

."Year 2003 DPS Prize Recipients"
/ref> More recently she was involved with organizing the data about the giant planets in NASA's

Planetary Data System The Planetary Data System (PDS) is a distributed data system that NASA uses to archive data collected by Solar System missions. The PDS is an active archive that makes available well documented, peer reviewed planetary data to the research communi ...

. She is in charge of the Atmospheres Discipline Node of that program. Her planetary data archiving skills have also been employed by the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

. She serves on the steering committee of the

International Planetary Data Alliance The International Planetary Data Alliance (IPDA), founded in 2006, is a closely cooperating partnership to maintain the quality and performance of data (including data formats) from planetary research using instruments in space. Specific tasks in ...

Awards

* 1989 Westhafer Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research, or Creative Activity from New Mexico State University"NMSU astronomer receives top public service medal from NASA"
New Mexico State University News Center * 1998 Dennis W. Darnall Faculty Achievement Award from New Mexico State University * 2003

Harold Masursky Award The Harold Masursky Award for Meritorious Service to Planetary Science, usually called the Masursky Award, is awarded annually by the Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS) of the American Astronomical Society. The award for Meritorious Service to P ...

from the Division for Planetary Sciences of 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 ...

* 2010 NASA Exceptional Public Service medal * 2020 Elected a Legacy Fellow of the

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beebe, Reta 1936 births Living people 20th-century American astronomers 20th-century American women scientists American women astronomers Planetary scientists Women planetary scientists Astrochemists New Mexico State University faculty American nature writers Fellows of the American Astronomical Society American women academics 21st-century American women