Dirk Terrell

Dirk Terrell (born August 14, 1965) is an American astronomer and space artist who is the Director of the Computer and Software Sciences section in the Planetary Science Directorate of the Space Science and Engineering division of the Southwest Research Institute.[1] He is a Fellow and former President of the International Association of Astronomical Artists.[2] He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Clemson University and a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Florida.

Dirk Terrell
Born (1965-08-14) August 14, 1965
San Francisco, CA, USA
NationalityUSA
OccupationAstronomer
Known forAstronomy, Space art

Career

In 2013, he was a member of a team of scientists that discovered and characterized the extrasolar planet Kepler-64b, a.k.a. PH1, the first planet discovered in a quadruple star system.[3] He showed that suspected transits in the Kepler Space Telescope data of the system were indeed due to a planet transiting the eclipsing binary in the system.[4][5] In 2014, he helped discover and characterize planets in three additional stellar systems, including Kepler-88 and Kepler-247.[6]

He is a core team member of the AAVSO Photometric All-Sky Survey (APASS), a photometric survey of over 100 million stars, providing measurements in eight photometric filters.

Awards and honors

Asteroid 79912 Terrell is named in his honor.[7]

References
  1. "SwRI Department of Space Studies Organization Chart". 1 July 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  2. "IAAA Fellows List". 1 July 2013. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  3. Schwamb, Megan E.; Orosz, Jerome A.; Carter, Joshua A.; Welsh, William F.; Fischer, Debra A.; Torres, Guillermo; et al. (May 2013). "Planet Hunters: A Transiting Circumbinary Planet in a Quadruple Star System". The Astrophysical Journal. 768 (2): 21. arXiv:1210.3612. Bibcode:2013ApJ...768..127S. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/768/2/127.
  4. "Citizen astronomers lead to first-of-a-kind discovery: circumbinary planet in four-star system". 15 October 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  5. "The Road to Characterizing PH1: Transits and Initial Modeling". 25 October 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  6. Nesvorný, David; Kipping, David; Terrell, Dirk; Feroz, Farhan (July 2014). "Photo-dynamical Analysis of Three Kepler Objects of Interest with Significant Transit Timing Variations". The Astrophysical Journal. 790 (1): 11. arXiv:1405.2060. Bibcode:2014ApJ...790...31N. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/790/1/31.
  7. Schmadel, Lutz D. (2006). "(79912) Terrell [2.67, 0.16, 10.7]". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (79912) Terrell, Addendum to Fifth Edition: 2003–2005. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 232. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-34361-5_2767. ISBN 978-3-540-34361-5.
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