Fred Espenak is a retired

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 ...

American astrophysicist. He worked at the

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC emp ...

. He is best known for his work on

eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ce ...

predictions. He became interested in astronomy when he was 7–8 years old, and had his first telescope when he was around 9–10 years old. Espenak earned a bachelor's degree in physics from

Wagner College Wagner College is a private liberal arts college in Staten Island, New York City. Founded in 1883 and with an enrollment of approximately 2,200 students, Wagner is known for its academic program, The Wagner Plan for the Practical Liberal Arts. I ...

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

, where he worked in the

planetarium A planetarium ( planetariums or ''planetaria'') is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetarium ...

. His master's degree is from the

University of Toledo The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a public research university in Toledo, Ohio. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, which includes the University of ...

, based on studies he did at Kitt Peak Observatory of eruptive and flare stars among

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He was employed at

, where he used

infrared spectrometer Infrared spectroscopy (IR spectroscopy or vibrational spectroscopy) is the measurement of the interaction of infrared radiation with matter by absorption, emission, or reflection. It is used to study and identify chemical substances or function ...

s to measure the atmospheres of planets in the

Solar System The Solar System Capitalization 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 ...

. He provided

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's eclipse bulletins since 1978. He is the author of several canonical works on eclipse predictions, such as the ''Fifty Year Canon of Solar Eclipses: 1986–2035'' and ''Fifty Year Canon of Lunar Eclipses: 1986–2035'', both of which are standard references on eclipses. The first eclipse he saw was the

solar eclipse of March 7, 1970 A total solar eclipse occurred on March 7, 1970, visible across most of North America and Central America. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a vi ...

, which sparked his interest in eclipses, and he has since seen over 20 eclipses. Together with

Jean Meeus Jean Meeus (born 12 December 1928) is a Belgian meteorologist and amateur astronomer specializing in celestial mechanics, spherical astronomy, and mathematical astronomy. Meeus studied mathematics at the University of Leuven in Belgium, w ...

, he published the ''Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses'' in 2006, which covers all types of solar eclipses (partial, total, annular, or hybrid) from 2000 BCE to AD 3000, and the ''Five Millennium Canon of Lunar Eclipses'' in 2009, which lists all lunar eclipses (penumbral, partial, or total) in that time span. Later, he published the more compact ''Thousand Year Canon of Lunar Eclipses 1501 to 2500'', the ''Thousand Year Canon of Solar Eclipses 1501 to 2500'', and the ''21st Century Canon of Solar Eclipses''. He is also a co-author (with Mark Littmann and

Ken Willcoxof Ken or KEN may refer to: Entertainment * ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer. * ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film. * ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine. * Ken Masters, a main character in ...

) of ''Totality: Eclipses of the Sun''. He was the co-investigator of an atmospheric experiment flown on

Space Shuttle Discovery Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' ( Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) is one of the orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully operational orbiters to be built. Its first mission, STS-41-D, flew from August 30 to ...

. He is also known as "Mr. Eclipse." He gives public lectures on eclipses and astrophotophy. Astronomical photographs taken by Espenak have been published in '' National Geographic'', ''

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'', ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans ar ...

'', ''

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'', and ' magazines. He met Patricia Totten while in India in 1995. They married in 2006.Joyce Lee and Spencer Bakalar
“He Met His True Love While Chasing Eclipses. Now They Chase Them Together”
“Time”, August 17, 2017. He retired in 2009.

Asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the Solar System#Inner solar system, 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 o ...

14120 Espenak 141 may refer to: * 141 (number), an integer * AD 141, a year of the Julian calendar * 141 BC __NOTOC__ Year 141 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Caepio and Pompeius (or, ...

'' was named in his honor in 2003.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Espenak, Fred American astrophysicists Goddard Space Flight Center people Living people People from Staten Island Wagner College alumni University of Toledo alumni Scientists from New York (state) 1953 births

See also

References

External links