Honoring her contributions to our understanding of the influence of stellar clusters on the dynamics of asteroids, comets, and interstellar objects, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has named an asteroid after our PI, Prof. Susanne Pfalzner.
The asteroid, now named (20596) Pfalzner = 1999 RX188, was discovered in September 1999 by the Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) project at the Magdalena Ridge Observatory in Socorro County, New Mexico, USA. It orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter, coming as close as d > 1.5 AU to Earth. For an animation, visit NASA’s Small-Body Database.
Credit: NASA, http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=20596&view=VOPD
Prof. Pfalzner’s main scientific interests focuse on star and planet formation, as well as the influence of the surrounding environment on these processes. Affiliated with various institutions, she works primarily at the Jülich Supercomputing Center, lectures at the University of Cologne, and conducts research at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn. Within Dynaverse, she focuses on small-scale objects like planetesimals, TNOs, and interstellar comets. Additionally, she explores the discovery of potential rare objects, such as interstellar and extreme outer Solar System objects.
For the interested reader
WGSBN Bulletin 6, #11 Issued, including the new name of Asteroid Pfalzner: https://www.wgsbn-iau.org/files/Bulletins/V006/WGSBNBull_V006_011.pdf
Working Group of the IAU: https://www.wgsbn-iau.org/
Credits
Title photo credit: Chris Henry, Unsplash
Animation credit: NASA, http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=20596&view=VOPD
