David J. Tholen
Encyclopedia
| 3124 Kansas 3124 Kansas 3124 Kansas is a main-belt asteroid discovered on November 3, 1981 by D. J. Tholen at Kitt Peak.- External links :*... |
November 3, 1981 |
| 11606 Almary 11606 Almary 11606 Almary is a main belt asteroid discovered on October 19, 1995 by D. J. Tholen at Mauna Kea Observatory.- External links :*... |
October 19, 1995 |
| 17045 Markert 17045 Markert 17045 Markert is a main-belt asteroid discovered on March 22, 1999 by D. J. Tholen and J. Bauer at Mauna Kea Observatory.- External links :*... |
March 22, 1999 |
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| || February 23, 1998
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| 49036 Pelion
49036 Pelion
49036 Pelion , provisionally known as 1998 QM107 is a Centaur discovered on August 21, 1998 by R. J. Whiteley and D. J. Tholen at Mauna Kea Observatory.- External links :*...
|| August 21, 1998
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| || July 18, 2001
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| || July 18, 1999
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| || April 2, 2000
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| 99942 Apophis
99942 Apophis
99942 Apophis is a near-Earth asteroid that caused a brief period of concern in December 2004 because initial observations indicated a small probability that it would strike the Earth in 2029. Additional observations provided improved predictions that eliminated the possibility of an impact on...
|| June 19, 2004
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| || May 14, 1999
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| || January 8, 2000
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| || July 18, 2001
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| || January 8, 2000
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| || July 19, 2001
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| || March 8, 2002
|-
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- with Jane X. Luu
- with Chadwick A. Trujillo
- with David C. JewittDavid C. JewittDavid C. Jewitt is a professor of astronomy formerly at the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, now at UCLA. He was born in 1958 in England, and is a 1979 graduate of the University of London. Jewitt received an M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in astronomy at the California Institute of Technology in...
- with Robert J. Whiteley
- with Roy A. TuckerRoy A. TuckerRoy A. Tucker is an American astronomer. He is a prolific discoverer of asteroids, identifying at least 404 and co-discovering one, between 1996 and 2009.Tucker was raised in Memphis, Tennessee...
- with Fabrizio BernardiFabrizio BernardiFabrizio Bernardi is an astronomer.-Contributions:In October of 2001 he discovered an asteroid, proceeded by near earth objects : 2002 RQ25 3 , 2002 WP11 and the NEO 2003 FB5 Fabrizio Bernardi is an astronomer.-Contributions:In October of 2001 he discovered an asteroid, proceeded by near earth...
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David James Tholen is an American astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
at the Institute for Astronomy
Institute for Astronomy
The Institute for Astronomy is a research unit within the University of Hawaii system, led by Günther Hasinger as Director. IfA main headquarters are located at 2680 Woodlawn Drive in Honolulu, Hawaii, , on the University of Hawaii at Mānoa campus. Additional facilities are located at Pukalani,...
of the University of Hawaii
University of Hawaii
The University of Hawaii System, formally the University of Hawaii and popularly known as UH, is a public, co-educational college and university system that confers associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees through three university campuses, seven community college campuses, an employment...
, who specializes in planetary
Planetary science
Planetary science is the scientific study of planets , moons, and planetary systems, in particular those of the Solar System and the processes that form them. It studies objects ranging in size from micrometeoroids to gas giants, aiming to determine their composition, dynamics, formation,...
and solar system
Solar System
The Solar System consists of the Sun and the astronomical objects gravitationally bound in orbit around it, all of which formed from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud approximately 4.6 billion years ago. The vast majority of the system's mass is in the Sun...
astronomy.
Professional life
Tholen has discovered a number of asteroidAsteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
s, including the lost , which may be an Apohele asteroid
Apohele asteroid
Apohele asteroids, or alternatively Interior-Earth Objects or Atira asteroids, are a subclass of Aten asteroids. They have not only their perihelion within Earth's orbit, but also their aphelion; that is, their entire orbit is within Earth's .The first suspected Apophele was , the first confirmed...
, and , 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). He won the H. C. Urey Prize
H. C. Urey Prize
The Harold C. Urey Prize is awarded annually by the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society. The prize recognizes outstanding achievement in planetary science by a young astronomer. The prize is named after Harold C. Urey....
in 1990.
He co-discovered the asteroid 99942 Apophis
99942 Apophis
99942 Apophis is a near-Earth asteroid that caused a brief period of concern in December 2004 because initial observations indicated a small probability that it would strike the Earth in 2029. Additional observations provided improved predictions that eliminated the possibility of an impact on...
(previously known as ). This asteroid will closely approach Earth on April 13, 2029 and very briefly appear as bright as a third magnitude
Apparent magnitude
The apparent magnitude of a celestial body is a measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, adjusted to the value it would have in the absence of the atmosphere...
star.
In 1995, Tholen obtained images of the newly-discovered comet Hale-Bopp
Comet Hale-Bopp
Comet Hale–Bopp was perhaps the most widely observed comet of the 20th century, and one of the brightest seen for many decades...
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, Olivier Hainaut discovered that this image was nearly identical to the one being discussed by late-night radio host Art Bell
Art Bell
Arthur W. "Art" Bell, III is an American broadcaster and author, known primarily as one of the founders and the original host of the paranormal-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM. He also created and formerly hosted its companion show, Dreamland...
and one of his guests, Courtney Brown, who claimed that the image 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
Remote viewing
Remote viewing is the practice of seeking impressions about a distant or unseen target using paranormal means, in particular, extra-sensory perception or "sensing with mind"...
". 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, the original image obtained by Tholen had been digitally altered, presumably by taking the image of a star near the edge of the frame, adding it to image 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 people maintained that Brown's version was the original image and that Tholen had removed the additional object from the one on the Institute's web site. Indeed, 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
Mass suicide
- Examples :Mass suicide sometimes occurs in religious or cultic settings. Defeated groups may resort to mass suicide rather than being captured. Suicide pacts are a form of mass suicide unconnected to cults or war that are sometimes planned or carried out by small groups of frustrated people...
.
Personal interests
David Tholen and Roy Tucker, co-discovers of 2004 MN4, are both fans of the TV series Stargate SG-1Stargate SG-1
Stargate SG-1 is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich...
, 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." .
Tholen frequently posts to various Usenet groups using the alias tholen@antispam.ham.
Tholen is a fan of the University of Kansas Jayhawks college basketball team and the Kansas City Royals
Kansas City Royals
The Kansas City Royals are a Major League Baseball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Royals are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From 1973 to the present, the Royals have played in Kauffman Stadium...
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
OS/2
OS/2 is a computer operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2," because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2 " line of second-generation personal...
, Linux, Windows, Solaris, and Mac OS
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
operating systems.