Eric James Christensen (born 1977 December 5) is an American astronomer and a discoverer of comets. He works as a staff scientist with Catalina Sky Survey and is responsible for the survey's near-Earth object operation.[1][2]

Career

Christensen is the director of the Catalina Sky Survey (CSS), which is funded by NASA and based at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory of the University of Arizona in Tucson. Christensen is the director of the survey's near-Earth object (NEO) operations, including observing, software development, cadence optimization, telescope and instrument maintenance and collimation, survey modeling and optimization, and project management. He has also spent 5 years at Gemini South Observatory in Chile as part of the science operations team, including hunting for meteorites in the Atacama Desert.

Discoveries

Numbered comets
Unnumbered comets
  • C/2005 B1 (Christensen)
  • C/2005 O2 (Christensen)
  • P/2005 T2 (Christensen)
  • C/2005 W2 (Christensen)
  • C/2006 F2 (Christensen)
  • P/2006 S4 (Christensen)
  • C/2006 W3 (Christensen)
  • P/2006 WY182 (Christensen)
  • C/2006 YC (Catalina–Christensen)
  • P/2007 B1 (Christensen)
  • C/2013 K1 (Christensen)
  • C/2014 H1 (Christensen)
  • C/2014 M2 (Christensen)
  • C/2014 W7 (Christensen)
  • P/2016 A2 (Christensen)
  • P/2022 E1 (Christensen)

Awards and honors

Asteroid 13858 Ericchristensen, discovered by the Catalina Sky Survey in 1999, was named in his honor.[1] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 22 July 2013 (M.P.C. 84377).[3]

References

  1. 1 2 "(13858) Ericchristensen". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  2. ↑ "Get to Know a Staff Scientist: Eric Christensen". University of Arizona. 17 April 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  3. ↑ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 3 February 2020.


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