I just found out that astronomer Steve Ostro has died. I didn’t know him personally, but many of my friends did. He was an asteroid specialist, and he was specifically interested in near-Earth and potentially hazardous asteroids. He was especially important in the field of active radar mapping of asteroids: using the giant Arecibo radio telescope to send pulses of energy at asteroids and using the timing of the reflections to make 3D maps, similar to how dolphins and bats echolocate. I’ve used many of his maps in my talks, including the dog-bone shaped Kleopatra (to show that not all asteroids look like spuds).
This is a great loss to astronomy and to science. Emily has more here, and there are other obituaries here and here, and details of his contributions to asteroid science are on Wikipedia.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Wow, I had no idea such a level of detail was possible with this technique! I’m curious about how this “echolocation” works, where can I read about it?
December 19th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Sad,
What is it with all the Asteroid scientist types leaving us these past couple years?
December 19th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Never heard of him, but hopefully they name an Asteroid after him to honor him for his dedication.
December 19th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
My condolences tohis friends and family and to the astronomical community more widely. He will be missed.
I hope NASA names a mission to a near-earth asteroid in honour – asteroids Apophis or Kleopatra would be an apt destination for any Ostro spaceprobe -or better yet a crewed spacecraft mission.
Was he responsible for getting the first images of near-Earth asteroid Toutatis as well? Iremeber seeing some impressive RADAR pics of that ..
(NB. Not “shouting” in caps – just pedantically being correct RADAR is actually an acronymn folks.
)
December 20th, 2008 at 2:37 am
StevoR, shouldn’t that be RaDAR? Since it stands for Radio Detection And Ranging… not that I’ve ever seen anyone write it like that or anything
Anyway, it’s not like anyone writes LASER in caps these days.
These deaths are sad news, but it’s kind of comforting to feel that they’ve made their contribution to the ongoing human endeavour of science, to be built on by generations to come.
December 20th, 2008 at 6:17 am
Michael L Said
“Never heard of him, but hopefully they name an Asteroid after him to honor him for his dedication”
Michael: he already has one named after him, (3169) Ostro
December 21st, 2008 at 7:07 am
Maugrim Said on Dec 20th, 2008 at 2:37 am :
“StevoR, shouldn’t that be RaDAR? Since it stands for Radio Detection And Ranging… not that I’ve ever seen anyone write it like that or anything. Anyway, it’s not like anyone writes LASER in caps these days.”
Hmm … maybe. I thought the acronym was all caps but I have been wrong on occassion … Yeah, I’m being picky here I know.
Alreadyan asteroid Ostro – good.
I’m very keen to see a human space mission to a Near-Earth Asteroid.
I’d like to suggest three NEA’s as possible targets :
1) Apophis – because of the very slight but real risk it poses us.
2) Cruithne – our quasi-moon because it’d be easy to get to, in a stable orbit, nearby & staying so – & ok, also because I’d like to see how close to the mark Stephen Baxter was in his novel featuring it!
&
3) Icarus – because its long ranging orbit takes it all around theinnersolar system and alongstay there would enable us to get closer tothe Sun than Mercury and out beyond Mars -could we jump off from it to other targets too maybe? Oh yeah, Arthur C.Clarke had some good ideas on that too ..
Now I’ll have to add as suggested targets a mission to asteroid Ostro too .. would be apt. Plus maybe to Kalliope as well to see if the Kaa’ba (Mecca’s idol stone) really is a fragment of that as suggested by Carl Sagan (in the book ‘Brocas’ Brain’) too!
December 21st, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Steve Ostro was an exceptional scientist and established the field of radar astronomy of asteroids, allowing us not only to improve orbits by ranging the distance of an asteroid, but also by providing images of them. Steve will be missed by those who knew him and those who new his work. He left the planet a better place than he found it as well as safer from the asteroid impact hazard. I feel lucky to have known Steve Ostro. He left us far too soon.