3530 Hammel is an asteroid named for Dr. Heidi B. Hammel

Heidi Hammel

-Background:Dr. Heidi B. Hammel is the Executive Vice President of AURA, Inc. , a consortium of 37 US members and 7 international affiliates...

, then a principal research scientist in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

. Discovered in 1981 in the course of the UK Schmidt-Caltech Asteroid Survey, this asteroid was originally designated as "1981 EC." The Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union

International Astronomical Union

The International Astronomical Union IAU is a collection of professional astronomers, at the Ph.D. level and beyond, active in professional research and education in astronomy...

announced the name in 1996 http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/mpc.html.

The accompanying citation was:

"Hammel – An indefatigable observer of the atmospheres of the outer planets, she is best-known for her long-term monitoring of Neptune. As an expert in planetary imaging, she was selected as the team leader for the Hubble Space Telescope project to observe the consequences of the Jupiter impact by Shoemaker-Levy 9. She also devotes substantial effort to public education and is a great communicator of the excitement of planetary science."

External links

• http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/1996/a&h-0724.html MIT News Office
• iWASwondering.org Learn more about Heidi Hammel at this science Web site for kids.