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Paul Wiegert

Paul Arnold Wiegert (born 1967) is a Canadian astronomer, discoverer of minor planets and professor at the University of Western Ontario.[2]

Wiegert studies unusual orbits of both observed objects and theorised classes of objects, for example, one early paper[3] considers not-known-to-exist planets orbiting the nearby Alpha Centauri star system, while later papers extend that case to more general planetary stability in general binary systems (as exoplanet studies are finding increasingly frequently). This work in particular should be of interest to science fiction authors inventing universes.

Other areas of work include identifying the orbits of minor planets in the Solar System, which by virtue of their potential instability could realistically become major threats to civilization when one impacts on Earth again, as they have in the past. The Minor Planet Center credits him with the discovery of 80 numbered minor planets between 2003 and 2008.[1] Wiegert was also involved in the discovery of 3753 Cruithne, Earth's first known Trojan asteroid.[2][4]

He was also the a member of the team that identified 524522 Zoozve, as a quasi-satellite of Venus, in 2004, two years after the actual discovery of the object.[5][6]

The outer main-belt asteroid 15068 Wiegert was named in his honor.[2]

List of discovered minor planets

References

  1. ^ a b "Minor Planet Discoverers (by number)". Minor Planet Center. 4 September 2016. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  2. ^ a b c Schmadel, Lutz D. (2006). "(15068) Wiegert [3.99, 0.22, 1.7]". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (15068) Wiegert, Addendum to Fifth Edition: 2003–2005. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. pp. 90–91. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-34361-5_923. ISBN 978-3-540-34361-5.
  3. ^ Wiegert, Paul A.; Holman, Matt J. (April 1997). "The Stability of Planets in the Alpha Centauri System". Astronomical Journal. 113: 1445–1450. arXiv:astro-ph/9609106. Bibcode:1997AJ....113.1445W. doi:10.1086/118360. S2CID 18969130. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  4. ^ Connors, M. G.; Wiegert, P.; Veillet, C. (December 2011). "Discovery of an Earth Trojan Asteroid". American Geophysical Union. 23: P23C–1727. Bibcode:2011AGUFM.P23C1727C. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  5. ^ "Discovery of the first quasi-satellite of Venus". Tuorla Observatory. 17 August 2004. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  6. ^ Mikkola, S.; Brasser, R.; Wiegert, P.; Innanen, K. (2004). "Asteroid 2002 VE68, a quasi-satellite of Venus". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 351 (3): L63–L65. Bibcode:2004MNRAS.351L..63M. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2004.07994.x.

External links