Marc William Buie
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Marc William Buie (* 1958 ) is an American astronomer .
He works in the field of planetology and is particularly concerned with Pluto and other trans-Neptunian objects within and beyond the Kuiper Belt, as well as with the centaurs .
Buie received his Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge in 1980 . He received his PhD from the University of Arizona at Tucson in 1984 .
Marc W. Buie works at the Lowell Observatory and discovered a large number of asteroids as part of the Deep Ecliptic Survey program, in which he is a lead partner . This also includes a large number of Trans-Neptunian objects. Buie is also one of the co-discoverers of the small Pluto moons Nix and Hydra (Pluto II and Pluto III).
The scientist is involved in the exploration of the dwarf planet Pluto by the space probe New Horizons , which flew past Pluto and its moons in July 2015. Among other things, Buie and his team are also specifically looking for trans-Neptunian objects that are in the vicinity of the further flight path of the space probe, so that the flyby of one or two trans-Neptunian objects can be arranged if necessary by making appropriate early orbit corrections.
According to his own account, Pluto already fascinated Marc W. Buie as a student. In his doctoral thesis he worked on the light curve CCD spectrophotometry of Pluto. Based on this, his further scientific career is characterized by participation in numerous research projects on planetological issues about the trans-Neptunian objects.
The asteroid (7553) Buie is named after him.
literature
- Lutz D. Schmadel : Dictionary of Minor Planet Names . 5th ed. Springer, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-540-00238-3 (English) ( preview on Google Book Search )
Individual evidence
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Buie, Marc William |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Buie, Marc W. (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American astronomer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1958 |