Fred Espenak is an American astrophysicist. He works at the Goddard Space Flight Center

Goddard Space Flight Center

The Goddard Space Flight Center is a major NASA space research laboratory established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center. GSFC employs approximately 10,000 civil servants and contractors, and is located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, USA. GSFC,...

. He is best known for his work on eclipse

Eclipse

An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object is temporarily obscured, either by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer...

 predictions.

Espenak earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Wagner College

Wagner College

Wagner College is a private, co-educational, national liberal arts college with an enrollment of approximately 2,400 total students located atop Grymes Hill in New York City's borough of Staten Island...

, Staten Island

Staten Island

Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...

, where he worked in the planetarium

Planetarium

A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation...

. His master's degree is from the University of Toledo

University of Toledo

The University of Toledo is a public university in Toledo, Ohio, United States. The Carnegie Foundation classified the university as "Doctoral/Research Extensive."-National recognition:...

, based on studies he did at Kitt Peak Observatory of eruptive and flare stars among red dwarf

Red dwarf

According to the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, a red dwarf star is a small and relatively cool star, of the main sequence, either late K or M spectral type....

s.

Espenak is the author of several canonical works on eclipse predictions, such as the Fifty Year Canon of Solar Eclipses: 1986–2035 and Fifty Year Canon of Lunar Eclipses: 1986–2035. He also publishes eclipse bulletins for NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

.
He is co-author with Jan Meeus of Five Millennium Canon of Solar Eclipses, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, October 2006. This work covers all types of solar eclipses (partial, total, annular, or hybrid) from 2000 BC to AD 3000.

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...

 14120 Espenak

14120 Espenak

14120 Espenak is a main-belt asteroid. It has an estimated diamter of 13.20 kilometers. Density and rotational period are not yet known....

is named in his honour.

External links

• NASA's Eclipse Home Page
• GSFC - Fred Espenak
• Fred Espenak as Mr. Eclipse
• Espenak biography and image gallery at The World at Night