Asteroid Named for Goddard Astronomer

Years spent charting a shadow dance between the Moon and the Sun paid off last month for NASA astronomer Fred Espenak, an alumnus of Wagner College, Staten Island, N. Y., with an asteroid that bears his name.

The organization that assigns official names to celestial objects, the International Astronomical Union (IAU), designated "minor planet 14120" as "Espenak" in the Smithsonian Astrophysics Center Minor Planet Circular #48157, issued March 18.

"It's quite an honor to have a piece of real estate in the solar system named after you," said Espenak, who is a world-renowned authority on solar eclipse predictions at Goddard. "I have to be humble, though, because it's a small piece, probably just 5 to 10 miles in diameter," he adds with a laugh.

The IAU cited Espenak as "widely recognized for his calculations of solar eclipses, his magnificent maps of these phenomena, and his book 'Totality: Eclipses of the Sun'."

For the complete article on Espenak's asteroid, go to: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/news-
release/releases/2003/03-38.htm

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NASA 's Mission:
*To understand and protect our home planet
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*To inspire the next generation of explorers
…as only NASA can

For a further details of the NASA mission, go to: http://www.nasa.gov/bios/vision.html

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In observance and in celebration of marking a century of flight in 2003, Goddard News will feature historical NASA flight tidbits throughout the year. This Week in History: Gemini 3 was the first crewed Earth-orbiting spacecraft of the Gemini series launched on March 23, 1965. Astronauts Virgil "Gus" Grissom and John Young were the pilots. Some the primary objectives were to evaluate the two-man Gemini design, the worldwide tracking network, the orbit attitude and maneuver system, the control reentry flight path and the landing port. For more on the Gemini 3 mission, go to: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/
MasterCatalog?sc=1965-024A

For more information on the Centennial of Flight celebration events, go to: http://www.centennialofflight.gov/