Ernest Leonard Johnson
Encyclopedia
Ernest Leonard Johnson was a South Africa
n astronomer
.
He was a former staff member of Union Observatory, retiring in 1956.
He discovered a number of asteroid
s, and several comet
s, including periodic comet 48P/Johnson
.
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
.
He was a former staff member of Union Observatory, retiring in 1956.
He discovered a number of 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...
s, and several comet
Comet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
s, including periodic comet 48P/Johnson
48P/Johnson
48P/Johnson is a periodic comet in our solar system.The comet nucleus is estimated to be 5.7 kilometers in diameter by Lamy, Fernandez, and Weaver. David C. Jewitt and Scott S. Sheppard estimate the nucleus to have dimensions of 6.0 x 4.4 km....
.
External references
- http://www.saao.ac.za/assa/html/mnassa_biographical_index.html
- http://www.saao.ac.za/assa/2003MNSSA..62..170C.pdf