Carl Alvar Wirtanen
Carl Alvar Wirtanen (born November 11, 1910 in Kenosha , ( Wisconsin , USA ), † March 7, 1990 in Santa Cruz ( California )) was an American astronomer .
Wirtanen studied astronomy, physics, and mathematics at the University of Virginia . In 1939 he received his master's degree there, and initially worked at the McCormick Observatory at the University of Virginia. From 1941 to 1978 he was an employee of the Lick Observatory of the University of California on Mt. Hamilton, California, with an interruption during World War II , during which he took part in research on ballistics . Wirtanen was an observer and research assistant at the Lick Observatory and supported several large observation programs.
Wirtanen discovered five comets, the best known of which is likely to be the periodic comet 46P / Wirtanen , and eight asteroids, including the asteroid (29075) 1950 DA , which could collide with the Earth in 2880. The asteroid (2044) host is named after him. Together with Charles Donald Shane, then director of the Lick Observatory, he created a count of around 1 million galaxies in the northern sky (Shane-Wirtanen galaxy count). In a set of 1246 photographic plates, which were originally obtained to study the proper motions of stars, they counted the galaxies in 1.6 million fields of 10 × 10 arc minutes each using the simplest means and thus gained an idea of the large-scale distribution of Galaxies in the universe.
Web links
- Publications by CA Wirtanen in the Astrophysics Data System
- AR Klemola: Carl Alvar Wirtanen, 1910-1990. Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society; vol. 23 (1991), no. 4, p. 1495-1496. (Obituary, English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wirtanen, Carl Alvar |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American astronomer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 11, 1910 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kenosha (Wisconsin) |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 7, 1990 |
| Place of death | Santa Cruz (California) |