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The following list of astronomers did research the solar system and did
discover planets, moons and asteroids. This list is not intended to be
a complete list of all astronomers.
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Adams, John Couch (1819 - 1892)

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British mathematician and astronomer. John Adams predicted, like
LeVerrier, the existence and position of the planet Neptune.
Additionally, John Adams worked on correcting the theory and description
of the motion of the Moon and also investigated meteor showers.
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Aristarchus (~310 BC - ~230 BC)

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Ancient greek mathematician and astronomer. Aristarchus is believed to
be the first astronomer to state the theory of an heliocentric system
long before Nicolas Copernicus. He also measured the distances from
Earth to the Moon and to the Sun.
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Barnard, Edward Emerson (1857 - 1923)

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American astronomer. Edward Barnard was one of the pioneer in celestial
photography. He discovered the fifth satellite of Jupiter in 1892, which
was later named Amalthea. Barnards observations were important on
clarifying the nature of the planetary rings. In the year 1916 he
discovered the nearby star that was later named Barnards Star.
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Bond, William Cranch (1789 - 1859)

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American astronomer and clockmaker. William Bond was the first director
of the Harvard College Obervatory and started extended observations
of sunspots and the Orion Nebula in 1839. He discovered the satellite
Hyperion while researching the ring system of Saturn.
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Brahe, Tycho (1546 - 1601)

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Danish astronomer. Tycho Brahe made the at his time most precise
observations of planetary motion and discovered anomalies in planetary
orbits. He provided the crucial data for later astronomers like Johannes
Kepler to construct our present model of the solar system. Tycho Brahe
himself did not accept the new plantary model described by Nicolas
Copernicus.
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Cassini, Giovanni Domenico (1625 - 1712)

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French astronomer. Giovanni Cassini was the first director of the
Paris Observatory. His extended planetary observations made the
important discoveries of surface structure and rotation of Mars and
Jupiter possible. Additionally, he discovered four satellites of
Saturn (Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys, Dione). Giovanni Cassini discovered
1675 a gap in the ring system of Saturn, the socalled "Cassini Division".
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Christy, James (1938 -)

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American astronomer. Charon was discovered by James Christy in 1978 at
the U.S. Naval Observatory. James Christy was observing irregularities
on Pluto which later proved to be the new satellite Charon.
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Copernicus, Nicolas (1473 - 1543)

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German astronomer. Nicolas Copernicus published his fantastic work about
the revolution of celestial bodies in 1543. Copernicus view of the world
placed the Sun in at the centre of the universe and declared that Earth
travels around the Sun once yearly. His theory was not perfect as he
assumed circular orbits but was amended by Johannes Kepler later.
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d'Arrest, Heinrich Louis (1822 - 1875)

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German astronomer. Heinrich Louis d'Arrest and Johann Gottfried Galle
were the first to observe the new planet Neptune. Heinrich Louis d'Arrest
was an astronmer at the observatories of Leipzig and Kopenhagen were
he researched distant galaxies.
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Dollfus, Audouin Charles (1924 -)

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French physicist and astronomer. Dollfus made the first ascent in a
stratospheric balloon in France in order to pursue detailed investigations
of Mars. Dollfus investigated the possibility and composition of an
atmosphere of the Moon and of the planets Mercury and Saturn. In 1966
Dollfus discovered Janus, the innermost moon of Saturn.
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Galilei, Galileo (1564 - 1642)

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Italian physicist, mathematician and astronomer. Galileo Galilei
improved the principles of the telescope invented by the dutchman
Hans Lippershey. Using the new telescope Galilei observed the
phases of the planet Venus and discovered the rings of Saturn.
He also discovered the four large moons of Jupiter (Ganymede,
Callisto, Io and Europe). Additionally he was a strong supporter of
the new world view by Nicolas Copernicus, rejecting the old views
of Ptolemaeus.
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Galle, Johann Gottfried (1812 - 1910)

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German astronomer. Johann Galle and Heinrich Louis d'Arrest were the
first who observed the planet Neptune. His observations based on the
predictions of Urbain LeVerrier. Even with Johann Galle being the
first to observe and verify Neptune's position is its discovery normally
associated with John Adams and Urbain LeVerrier who both predicted
its position.
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Gladman, Brett James (1966 -)

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Canadian Astronomer and physicist. Brett Gladman ist best known
as discoverer or co-discover of many astronomical bodies in the
solar system. Among his discoveries are many smaller moons of
Jupiter and Saturn, as well as some moons of Uranus
(Caliban, Sycorax, Prospero, Setebos und Stephano).
Brett Gladman is professor at the University of British Columbia's
Department of Physics and Astronomy, in Vancouver, British Columbia.
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Hall, Asaph (1829 - 1907)

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American astronomer. Asaph Hall discovered the two martian moons Phobos
and Deimos in 1877 while working for the US naval observatory. He also
observed many other moons and Asteroids and calculated the distances
of stars and double stars.
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Herschel, Sir Friedrich William (1738 - 1822)

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British astronomer and musician of german heritage. William Herschel
discovered the planet Uranus in 1781. Additionally he discovered the
moons Mimas and Enceladus of Saturn and the moons Titania and Oberon of
Uranus. William Herschel wrote extended catalogues of nebulas and double
stars. All these observations were only possible because he built
himself large reflector telescopes.
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Hipparchus (~160 BC - ~125 BC)

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Ancient greek astronomer and mathematician. Hipparchus discovered the
precession of the equinoxes and the eccentricity of the Sun's path and
estimated the distances of the Sun and Moon from the Earth. His catalogue
of 1080 stars was used as basis for Ptolemaeus star catalogue. Finally,
he invented trigonometry.
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Huygens, Christiaan (1629 - 1695)

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Dutch physicist and mathematician. Christiaan Huygens established the
wave theory of light and invented the pendulum clock. As an astronomer,
he discovered the oblateness of Mars, the Orion Nebula and Titan, a
satellite of Saturn.
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Jewitt, David C. (1958 -)

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British astronomer. David Jewitt is a Professor of astronomy at the
University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy. His research interests
include the trans-Neptunian Solar System, Solar System formation and
the physical properties of Comets. Additionally he was involved in
the discovery of a number of smaller satellites of the planet Jupiter.
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Kepler, Johannes (1571 - 1630)

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German astronomer and mathematician. Johannes Kepler is famous for his
three laws of planetary motion which replaced the circular orbits of
Nicolas Copernicus by elliptic orbits. His extended observations, at the
beginning as an assistant of Tycho Brahe, improved knowledge about
calculation the planetary positions greatly.
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Kowal, Charles Thomas (1940 -)

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American astronomer. Charles Kowal discovered the satellites Leda and
Themisto of Jupiter. He also discovered the first of the Asteroids of the
Centaur classification, Chiron (2060). Themisto was rediscovered in 2000
by Sheppard.
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Kuiper, Gerard Peter (1905 - 1975)

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Dutch astronomer. Gerard Kuiper discovered two moons of Neptune,
Miranda and Nereid. Additionally he improved the methods of analysis
for planetary atmospheres and discovered the existence of methane on
the satellite Titan.
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Lassell, William (1799 - 1880)

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British astronomer, originally a brewer. William Lassell discovered the
moons Ariel and Umbriel of the planet Uranus and the satellite Triton
of the planet Neptune. Additionally he discovered the satellite
Hyperion of the planet Saturn, independent from and just a day after
William Bond.
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LeVerrier, Urbain Jean Joseph (1811 - 1877)

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French astronomer. The predictions of LeVerrier about the position of
an undiscovered planet influencing the orbit of the planet Uranus lead
to a speedy search for this new planet. Johann Galle was the first to
observe this new planet Neptune. The astronomer John Adams had carried
out virtually identically calculations a few months before. Additionally
Leverrier was instrumental in the establishment of a meteorological
network across continental europe.
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Lippershey, Hans (1570 - 1619)

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Dutch eyeglass maker. Hans Lippershey invented, nearly at the same time
like some others, the principle of telescope. Galileo Galilei improved
the principles of Hans Lippershey shortly after his invention.
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Marius, Simon (1573 - 1624)

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German astronomer. Simon Marius or Mayr was the first to name the four
large moons of Jupiter "Satellites" and provided the today known names
Ganymede, Callisto, Io and Europe. Additionally he discovered the
Andromeda Nebula in 1612 and observed the changes in luminance of stars.
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Melotte, Philibert Jacques (1880 - 1961)

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British astronomer of belgian immigrants. Philibert Melotte discovered
in 1908 the satellite Pasiphae of Jupiter and in 1909 the asteroid Melitta.
Additionally he created a catalogue of open clusers.
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Neujmin, Grigoriy Nikolajewitsch (1886 - 1946)

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Russian astronomer. Neujmin discovered alltogether 74 Asteroids,
among them (951) Gaspra. He also discovered or co-discovered a number
of periodic comets, including 25D/Neujmin, 28P/Neujmin, 42P/Neujmin,
57P/du Toit-Neujmin-Delporte and 58P/Jackson-Neujmin.
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Newton, Sir Isaac (1643 - 1727)

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British mathematician and physicist. Sir Isaac Newton invented what we
till today know as classical mechanics. He also described universal
gravitation and mathematically prooved Kepler's laws of planetary
motion. He also investigated the refraction of light and invented a
special refracting telescope.
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Nicholson, Seth Barnes (1891 - 1963)

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American astronomer. Seth Barnes Nicholson discovered the new satellite
Sinope while observing Jupiter and the previously discovered satellite
Pasiphae. Later, working at the Mount Wilson Observatory, he discovered
the moons Lysithea, Carme and Ananke of Jupiter.
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Olbers, Heinrich Wilhelm (1758 - 1840)

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German physician, physicist.and astronomer. Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers
developed methods to determinate the orbit of celestial bodies. He
also discovered the Asteroids Pallas and Vesta and six Comets and
formulated the Olbers' Paradoxon.
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Perrine, Charles Dillon (1867 - 1951)

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Argentinian-american astronomer. Charles Perrine was staff member of
the Lick Observatory and became later director of the Argentine National
Oberservatory. He discovered the moons Himalia and Elara of Jupiter.
Additionally he researched Comets and discovered some new Comets.
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Piazzi, Giuseppe (1746 - 1826)

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Italian astronomer, mathematician and monk. Guiseppe Piazzi studied
theology and philosophy. In 1781, Piazzi became director of the newly
founded observatory in Palermo. He discovered the first asteroid of
the solar system in 1801 which got named Ceres.
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Pickering, William Henry (1858 - 1938)

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American astronomer. William Pickering discovered the satellite Phoebe
of Saturn. Additionally, William Pickering calculated and researched
theories on probabilities of planets beyond Neptune.
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Ptolemaeus, Claudius (~85 - ~165)

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Ancient greek geographer, astronomer and mathematician. Claudius
Ptolemaeus founded the occidental world view with his work "Almagest"
and influenced this world view till the late middle ages. His modell
of the geocentric universe, the ptolemaeic world view, was based on the
opinion that all heavenly bodies have to orbit Earth.
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Terrile, Richard John (1951 -)

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American astronomer. Richard Terrile works as astronomer at the JPL
for the NASA. He was semifinalist and candidate for astronaut for the
SkyLab mission. As a member of the Voyager Imaging Team he dicovered
the satellite Atlas of Jupiter, the satellites Cordelia and Ophelia of
Uranus and the satellites Naiad and Thalassa of Neptune.
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Tombaugh, Clyde William (1906 - 1997)

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American astronomer. Clyde Tombaugh discovered the planet Pluto in
1930 with working at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff. After his
discovery of Pluto Tombaugh examined over 90 million star maps for
13 years but did not discover any other planet.
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