Minor planets discovered: 66[1]
see § List of discovered minor planets

David James Tholen (born 1955) is an American astronomer at the Institute for Astronomy of the University of Hawaiʻi. He holds a 1984 PhD from the University of Arizona, and specializes in planetary and Solar System astronomy. He is a discoverer of minor planets and known for the Tholen spectral classification scheme used on asteroids.[2]

Professional life

Tholen has discovered a number of asteroids, including the lost 1998 DK36, which may be an Apohele asteroid, and 2004 XZ130, which certainly is; in fact, it had the smallest semimajor axis and aphelion distance among the known asteroids (and still holds both records among numbered asteroids as of March 2010[3]). He won the H. C. Urey Prize in 1990.[4]

He co-discovered the asteroid 99942 Apophis (previously known as 2004 MN4). This asteroid will closely approach Earth on April 13, 2029 and very briefly appear as bright as a third magnitude star.

In 1995, Tholen obtained images of the then newly discovered comet Hale-Bopp at a time when the comet was moving very slowly with respect to the background stars, thus permitting the red- green- and blue-filtered images to be combined into a color composite without the background stars appearing as separately colored dots. This color composite image was made publicly accessible via the Institute of Astronomy's web site.

Later, then postdoc at University of Hawaiʻi, Olivier R. Hainaut discovered that a nearly identical image was being discussed by late-night radio host Art Bell and one of his guests, Courtney Brown, who claimed that it proved the existence of an unnatural object following the comet, something supposedly seen by those who had learned how to engage in the technique of "remote viewing". The image provided to Bell by Brown, and eventually made public on Bell's web site, did indeed show an object next to the comet that did not appear in archival images of the sky. In reality, that image had been digitally altered from the original image posted by Tholen, presumably by taking the image of a star near the edge of the frame, adding it next to the comet, and then trimming away the outer edges of the frame.

Tholen and Hainaut exposed the fraud by producing the original image, which showed no such additional object. Nevertheless, some conspiracy theorists maintained that Brown's version was actually the original image and that Tholen had removed the additional object from the one on the Institute's web site. The Heaven's Gate cult was so convinced that the additional object was a spaceship coming to take them away from Earth that they committed mass suicide.

The Mars-crosser asteroid 3255 Tholen, discovered by Edward Bowell in 1980, is named after David Tholen.[2]

Personal interests

David Tholen and Roy Tucker, co-discovers of 99942 Apophis, are both fans of the TV series Stargate SG-1, which influenced the naming of the asteroid. The show's most persistent villain is "Apophis", an alien also named for the Egyptian god. "We considered a number of names, but 'Apophis' kept floating to the top," says Tucker. "Apophis was a very fitting name for 2004 MN4 not only because of its threatening nature, but also because of its evolution from an Aten asteroid to an Apollo asteroid during the 2029 encounter."[5]

Tholen is a fan of the University of Kansas Jayhawks college basketball team and the Kansas City Royals Major League Baseball team.

He also plays clarinet and bass clarinet for the Honolulu Community Concert Band and the Oahu Community Orchestra.

He is also a user of the OS/2, Linux, Windows, Solaris, and Mac OS operating systems.

Tholen frequently posts to various Usenet groups using the alias tholen@antispam.ham.

List of discovered minor planets

3124 Kansas3 November 1981list
11606 Almary19 October 1995list
17045 Markert22 March 1999list
(24978) 1998 HJ15128 April 1998list[A][B][C]
(27002) 1998 DV923 February 1998list[D]
49036 Pelion21 August 1998list[D]
(72912) 2001 OA8418 July 2001list
(96744) 1999 OW318 July 1999list[D]
(97725) 2000 GB1472 April 2000list[D]
99942 Apophis19 June 2004list[E][F]
(101818) 1999 JD1314 May 1999list[D]
(103501) 2000 AT2458 January 2000list[D]
(124198) 2001 OH7718 July 2001list
(137911) 2000 AB2468 January 2000list[D]
(139478) 2001 OP10419 July 2001list
(141498) 2002 EZ168 March 2002list
(160848) 2001 BN8219 January 2001list
(164294) 2004 XZ13013 December 2004list
(164405) 2005 UK50424 October 2005list
(164406) 2005 UV50424 October 2005list
(168613) 2000 AA2467 January 2000list[D]
(168828) 2000 SY32029 September 2000list
(190208) 2006 AQ2 January 2006list
(198968) 2005 UF50624 October 2005list
(198971) 2005 UU51231 October 2005list
(202420) 2005 UO50624 October 2005list
(209923) 2005 UX50424 October 2005list
(218017) 2001 XV2669 December 2001list
(229495) 2005 UG50824 October 2005list
(231134) 2005 TU455 October 2005list
(231199) 2005 UO50524 October 2005list
(231200) 2005 UZ50524 October 2005list
(233166) 2005 UF50824 October 2005list
(238850) 2005 UL53024 October 2005list
(240790) 2005 UH50524 October 2005list
(248508) 2005 UY50424 October 2005list
(250706) 2005 RR64 September 2005list
(265742) 2005 UG51024 October 2005list
(268427) 2005 UJ50624 October 2005list
(276891) 2004 RH34015 September 2004list
(277451) 2005 UT50424 October 2005list
(280491) 2004 MO716 June 2004list
(280742) 2005 LY428 June 2005list
(281070) 2006 OY1021 July 2006list
(284133) 2005 UP50424 October 2005list
(290759) 2005 UR50524 October 2005list
(303930) 2005 UZ50324 October 2005list
(306798) 2001 OW9420 July 2001list
(309203) 2007 GG7 April 2007list
(326354) 2000 SJ34430 September 2000list[D]
(327398) 2005 UL50524 October 2005list
(357129) 2001 XU2669 December 2001list
(363071) 2000 GD1473 April 2000list[D]
(363831) 2005 PY161 August 2005list
(383165) 2005 VJ57 November 2005list
(396816) 2004 QU2817 August 2004list
(405762) 2005 YO18029 December 2005list
(437908) 2001 XW2669 December 2001list
(440680) 2005 YW3623 December 2005list
(455951) 2005 UQ50424 October 2005list
(474212) 2000 SH34429 September 2000list[D]
(480852) 2000 WK19224 November 2000list
(481027) 2004 XN4413 December 2004list
(503858) 1998 HQ15128 April 1998list[A][B][C]
541132 Leleākūhonua13 October 2015list[B][G]
(541152) 2017 EU924 April 2005list
Co-discovery made with:
A J. X. Luu
B C. Trujillo
C D. C. Jewitt
D R. J. Whiteley
E R. A. Tucker
F F. Bernardi
G S. S. Sheppard

See also

References

  1. "Minor Planet Discoverers (by number)". Minor Planet Center. January 12, 2017. Retrieved February 1, 2017.
  2. 1 2 Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). "(3255) Tholen". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (3255) Tholen. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 271. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_3256. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.
  3. "List Of Aten Minor Planets". Minor Planet Center. February 4, 2010. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
  4. "Harold C. Urey Prize in Planetary Science".
  5. Bill Cooke (August 18, 2005). "Asteroid Apophis set for a makeover". Astronomy Magazine. Archived from the original on November 10, 2005. (naming the asteroid Apophis and how Earth's gravity may change its trajectory in 2029)
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