Robert George Harrington (December 3, 1904 – June 15, 1987) was an American

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

who worked at

Palomar Observatory The Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in the Palomar Mountains of San Diego County, California, United States. 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 The 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 D ...

. 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 George Ogden Abell (March 27, 1927 – October 7, 1983) was an American astronomer and professor. He taught at University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA, primarily as a research astronomer. He earned his B.S. in 1951, his M.S. in 1952 and his P ...

in 1955) and the comet/

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

107P/Wilson–Harrington, which he and Albert Wilson discovered in 1949 and which had become an asteroid by 1988. Google Books Harrington discovered the

dwarf galaxy A dwarf galaxy is a small galaxy composed of about 1000 up to several billion stars, as compared to the Milky Way's 200–400 billion stars. The Large Magellanic Cloud, which closely orbits the Milky Way and contains over 30 billion stars, is so ...

Leo II and co-discovered the

globular cluster A globular cluster is a spheroidal conglomeration of stars that is bound together by gravity, with a higher concentration of stars towards its center. It can contain anywhere from tens of thousands to many millions of member stars, all orbiting ...

Palomar 12 with

Fritz Zwicky Fritz Zwicky (; ; February 14, 1898 – February 8, 1974) was a Swiss astronomer. He worked most of his life at the California Institute of Technology in the United States of America, where he made many important contributions in theoretical an ...

. The

3216 Harrington was not named after Robert George Harrington, but rather after Robert Sutton Harrington. Harrington's name is, however, associated with the

/comet 107P/Wilson–Harrington.

References

American astronomers Discoverers of comets Discoverers of asteroids 1904 births 1987 deaths {{US-astronomer-stub