Robert George Harrington (December 3, 1904 – June 15, 1987) was an American
astronomer who worked at
Palomar Observatory
Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in San Diego County, California, United States, in the Palomar Mountain Range. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Research time at the observat ...
. He should not be confused with
Robert Sutton Harrington, who was also an astronomer, but was born later and worked at the
US Naval Observatory
United States Naval Observatory (USNO) is a scientific and military facility that produces geopositioning, navigation and timekeeping data for the United States Navy and the United States Department of Defense. Established in 1830 as the Depo ...
.
He discovered or co-discovered a number of comets, including periodic comets
43P/Wolf–Harrington,
51P/Harrington (discovered in 1953),
52P/Harrington–Abell (discovered jointly with
George Ogden Abell in 1955) and the comet/
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.
...
107P/Wilson–Harrington
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
, which he and
Albert Wilson discovered in 1949 and which had become an asteroid by 1988.
[ Google Books]
Harrington discovered the
dwarf galaxy Leo II and co-discovered the
globular cluster Palomar 12
Palomar 12 is a globular cluster in the constellation Capricornus, and is a member of the Palomar Globular Clusters group.
First discovered on the National Geographic Society – Palomar Observatory Sky Survey plates by Robert George Harring ...
with
Fritz Zwicky.
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.
...
3216 Harrington
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 ...
was not named after Robert George Harrington, but rather after
Robert Sutton Harrington. Harrington's name is, however, associated with 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.
...
/comet
107P/Wilson–Harrington
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
.
References
American astronomers
Discoverers of comets
Discoverers of asteroids
1904 births
1987 deaths
{{US-astronomer-stub