Keith S. Noll
American planetary scientist
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Keith S. Noll (born 1958) is an American planetary scientist.
Keith S. Noll | |
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| Born | 1958[1] |
| Alma mater | Stony Brook University University of Illinois system[2] |
| Awards | American Astronomical Society Education Prize (2007)[3] |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Space Telescope Science Institute Goddard Space Flight Center |
Biography
Noll works at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) as a planetary astronomer.[4] Before coming go GSFC, he worked at the Space Telescope Science Institute for 20 years, where he founded the Hubble Heritage Project in 1998.[5][3][6] He became chief of GSFC's Planetary Systems Laboratory in 2011, a position he held for six years.[5][2][7] Since 2015, he is the Lucy mission’s project scientist.[8][7]
His research interests include the study of small bodies in the Solar System, the atmospheres of giant planets, brown dwarfs, Saturn's moon Titan, and icy satellites.[5] He has focused on the study of trans-Neptunian objects, particularly with the Hubble Space Telescope.[2] By about 2020, he was responsible for discovering more than 75% of all then-known binary asteroids in the Kuiper belt.[5][a] Noll is interested in identifying opportunities for studying material from the early Solar System that is accessible to Earth-based missions like Lucy.[5]
In 1993, Noll became a member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).[5][10] Since 2007, he is a member of the Working Group Small Body Nomenclature, the section of the IAU that is responsible for naming minor planets.[5] He became its vice-chair in 2023.[11][10]
In 2006, 6386 Keithnoll, a Mars-crossing asteroid, was named in his honor.[12]
Notable discoveries
Noll is credited with co-discovering the binary nature of the trans-Neptunian object 58534 Logos[13] and of 16974 Iphthime, the third known binary Jupiter trojan.[5] He also co-discovered the minor-planet moons Hiisi,[14][15] Ilmarë,[16] Thorondor,[17] Echidna,[18] Actaea[19] and G!o'e !Hu,[20] as well as the moon of 38628 Huya.[21]
