Article

30 April 2004

New asteroid named in honor of Lisa Glukhovsky

Lisa Glukhovsky was one of three Grand Prize Winners at the 54th Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in 2003. The John J. McCarthy Observatory, the Western Connecticut Chapter of the Society for Amateur Scientists (WCCSAS), and the all- volunteer staff at the observatory mentored Lisa in her project, a method of rapidly and accurately measuring the distance to potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroids. This latest news report about Lisa was sent by Monty Robson of the WCCSAS.

Lisa Glukhovsky, shown here with SAS Executive Director Shawn Carlson (left) received a gift of laboratory glassware from glass blower Rich Gerhart (center) when she was a special guest and speaker at the 2003 Citizen Scientist Conference on the campus of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. Photograph by Forrest M. Mims III. Click image to enlarge.

On February 4, 2000, MIT's LINEAR discovered an 8 to 19 km diameter main-belt asteroid. The Minor Planet Center (MPC) gave this object the provisional designation 2000 CG83. After the asteroid had been observed enough to really understand its orbit, the MPC assigned the object the number 25800. MIT's Lincoln Lab then suggested a name for 25800. The International Astronomical Union's Committee for Small-Body Nomenclature approved the name and the asteroid is now known as 25800 Glukhovsky to honor Lisa and her outstanding project.

This is also a great honor to the Society for Amateur Scientists (SAS), the Western Connecticut Chapter of the Society for Amateur Scientists (WCCSAS), and the entire McCarthy Observatory staff. Without your devotion and dedication to producing this world-class educational facility and operating it, Lisa would not have had a place to conduct her research. I am proud of the John J. McCarthy Observatory and of its accomplishments, but I am most proud of you,the wonderful people who have made all this happen.

For details about the discovery that earned Lisa this honor, see these web sites: