Dirk Terrell

Dirk Terrell
Born (1965-08-14)August 14, 1965
San Francisco, CA, USA
Nationality USA
Occupation Astronomer
Known for Astronomy Space art

Dirk Terrell (born August 14, 1965) is an American astronomer and space artist who is the manager of the Astronomy and Computer Systems section in the Department of Space Studies of the Space Science and Engineering division of the Southwest Research Institute.[1] He is a Fellow and former President of the International Association of Astronomical Artists.[2]

In 2013, he was a member of a team of scientists that discovered and characterized the extrasolar planet Kepler-64b, a.k.a. PH1, the first planet discovered in a quadruple star system.[3] He showed that suspected transits in the Kepler Space Telescope data of the system were indeed due to a planet transiting the eclipsing binary in the system.[4][5] In 2014, he helped discover and characterize planets in three additional stellar systems, including Kepler-88 and Kepler-247. [6]

Asteroid (79912) Terrell is named in his honor.[7]

References

  1. "SwRI Department of Space Studies Organization Chart". 1 July 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  2. "IAAA Fellows List". 1 July 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  3. arXiv. "Planet Hunters: A Transiting Circumbinary Planet in a Quadruple Star System", Megan E. Schwamb, Jerome A. Orosz, Joshua A. Carter, William F. Welsh, Debra A. Fischer, Guillermo Torres, Andrew W. Howard, Justin R. Crepp, William C. Keel, Chris J. Lintott, Nathan A. Kaib, Dirk Terrell, Robert Gagliano, Kian J. Jek, Michael Parrish, Arfon M. Smith, Stuart Lynn, Robert J. Simpson, Matthew J. Giguere, Kevin Schawinski, 2012 October, arXiv:1210.3612 ; Bibcode: 2012arXiv1210.3612S ;
  4. "Citizen astronomers lead to first-of-a-kind discovery: circumbinary planet in four-star system". 15 October 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  5. "The Road to Characterizing PH1: Transits and Initial Modeling". 25 October 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  6. arXiv. "Photo-Dynamical Analysis of Three Kepler Objects of Interest with Significant Transit Timing Variations",David Nesvorny, David Kipping, Dirk Terrell, Farhan Feroz, 2014 May, arXiv:1405.2060; Bibcode: 2014arXiv1405.2060;
  7. "Minor Planet Circular 54829" (PDF). 18 Sep 2005. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
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