J-John Kavelaars, better known as JJ Kavelaars (born 1966), is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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 ...

who was part of a team that discovered several

moons A natural satellite is, in the most common usage, an astronomical body that orbits a planet, dwarf planet, or small Solar System body (or sometimes another natural satellite). Natural satellites are often colloquially referred to as ''moons'' ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

. He is also a

discoverer of minor planets This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 numb ...

and an investigator on the extended ''

New Horizons ''New Horizons'' is an Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research ...

'' mission, having aided in the discovery of

486958 Arrokoth Arrokoth (minor-planet designation 486958 Arrokoth; provisional designation ), formerly nicknamed Ultima Thule, is a trans-Neptunian object located in the Kuiper belt. Arrokoth became the farthest and most primitive object in the Solar System ...

Biography

Kavelaars is a graduate of the Glencoe District High School in Glencoe, Ontario, the

University of Guelph , mottoeng = "to learn the reasons of realities" , established = May 8, 1964 ()As constituents: OAC: (1874) Macdonald Institute: (1903) OVC: (1922) , type = Public university , chancellor ...

, and Queen's University,

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...

. He is currently an astronomer at the

Dominion Astrophysical Observatory The Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, located on Observatory Hill, in Saanich, British Columbia, was completed in 1918 by the Canadian government. The Dominion architect responsible for the building was Edgar Lewis Horwood. The main instrumen ...

Victoria, B.C. Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The ...

In the course of his work, he has been responsible for the discovery of eleven satellites (moons) of Saturn, eight of Uranus, and four of Neptune, and a hundred or so minor planets. Kavelaars is the Coordinator of the

Canada–France Ecliptic Plane Survey This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 num ...

which is part of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey "CFHTLS": a project dedicated to the discovery and tracking of objects in the

outer Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...

Family

He is the brother of Canadian actress

Ingrid Kavelaars Ingrid Kavelaars (born March 20, 1971) is a Canadian actress known for her role on the science-fiction series '' Code Name: Eternity''. Early life Kavelaars was born in London, Ontario, Canada. Her parents are Dutch. Her mother, Anne, was a home ...

and Canadian fencing athlete

Monique Kavelaars Monique Kavelaars (born March 20, 1971) is a Canadian fencer. She was part of Team Canada's women's epée team who finished fourth at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. She trains and lives in Toronto, Ontario. She belongs to the Tor ...

Honors

The asteroid 154660 Kavelaars was named in his honor on 1 June 2007 by his colleague

David D. Balam David D. Balam is a Canadians, Canadian astronomer and a research associate with University of Victoria, University of Victoria's Department of Physics and Astronomy, in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria, British Columbia. Specializing in the ...

. In 2022 Kavelaars was awarded the

Canadian Astronomical Society The Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA; french: link=yes, La Société Canadienne d'Astronomie) is a Canadian society of professional astronomers, founded in 1971 and incorporated in 1983. The society is devoted to the promotion and advanceme ...

Dunlap Award for Innovation in Astronomical Instrumentation and Software. This award recognized Kavelaars' contributions to the development and leadership of the

Canadian Astronomy Data Centre The NRC Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre (NRC Herzberg, HAA) is the leading Canadian centre for astronomy and astrophysics. It is based in Victoria, British Columbia. The current Director-General, as of 2021, is Luc Simard. ...

, in particular the development of cloud-based astronomical data analysis using the CANFAR Science Platform. In 2022 Kavelaars was awarded the

National Research Council National Research Council may refer to: * National Research Council (Canada), sponsoring research and development * National Research Council (Italy), scientific and technological research, Rome * National Research Council (United States), part of ...

Dan Wayner award for outstanding achievement in Science and Technology. This award was presented in recognition of Kavelaars' co-discovery of

and contributions to the NASA's New Horizons encounter with that object.

List of discovered minor planets

References

External links

Astronomy – John J. Kavelaars
Notable GDHS Graduates
Homepage at NRC
1966 births 21st-century Canadian astronomers Canadian people of Swedish descent * Discoverers of trans-Neptunian objects Discoverers of moons Living people Planetary scientists People from Middlesex County, Ontario {{Astronomer-stub