5953 Shelton
Encyclopedia
5953 Shelton is a main-belt
asteroid
discovered on April 25, 1987 by husband and wife teams Carolyn and Gene Shoemaker at Palomar
. It was named after Canadian astronomer Ian Shelton
, discoverer of SN 1987A
, the first supernova
event observed since the invention of the telescope
.
Asteroid belt
The asteroid belt is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets...
asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
discovered on April 25, 1987 by husband and wife teams Carolyn and Gene Shoemaker at Palomar
Palomar Observatory
Palomar Observatory is a privately owned observatory located in San Diego County, California, southeast of Pasadena's Mount Wilson Observatory, in the Palomar Mountain Range. At approximately elevation, it is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology...
. It was named after Canadian astronomer Ian Shelton
Ian Shelton
Ian Keith Shelton is a Canadian astronomer famous for discovering SN 1987A, the first modern supernova close and bright enough to be visible to the naked eye.He received his B.Sc...
, discoverer of SN 1987A
SN 1987A
SN 1987A was a supernova in the outskirts of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby dwarf galaxy. It occurred approximately 51.4 kiloparsecs from Earth, approximately 168,000 light-years, close enough that it was visible to the naked eye. It could be seen from the Southern...
, the first supernova
Supernova
A supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...
event observed since the invention of the telescope
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
.