Henri Joseph Anastase Perrotin (December 19, 1845 – February 29, 1904) was a French

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

and a

discoverer of minor planets This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 num ...

. Some sources give his middle name as Athanase. In his early career, he and

Guillaume Bigourdan Camille Guillaume Bigourdan (; 6 April 1851 – 28 February 1932) was a French astronomer. Personal life Bigourdan was born at Sistels, Tarn-et-Garonne to Pierre Bigourdan and Jeanne Carrière. When his teachers and local curate recognised ...

were assistants of Félix Tisserand at

Toulouse Observatory The Toulouse Observatory (french: Observatoire de Toulouse) is located in Toulouse, France and was established in 1733. It was founded by ''l'Académie des Sciences, Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres de Toulouse'' ("Academy of Science, Inscriptions ...

. Later, he was the first director of the

Nice Observatory The Nice Observatory (french: Observatoire de Nice) is an astronomical observatory located in Nice, France on the summit of Mount Gros. The observatory was founded in 1879, by the banker Raphaël Bischoffsheim. The architect was Charles Garni ...

in Nice, France from 1884 until his death. He made observations of

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atm ...

and attempted to determine the rotation period of

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...

. He also calculated perturbations in the orbit of

4 Vesta Vesta (minor-planet designation: 4 Vesta) is one of the largest objects in the asteroid belt, with a mean diameter of . It was discovered by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers on 29 March 1807 and is named after Vesta, the ...

. In the literature, he is sometimes referred to as Henri Perrotin and sometimes as Joseph Perrotin (this is indeed one and the same person). He is also referenced in H.G Well's novel "The War of The Worlds" as "Perrotin of Nice". His 6

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere ...

discoveries are credited by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function T ...

to "J. Perrotin". He won the Prix Lalande in 1875 and 1883. The Martian crater '' Perrotin'' and the inner main-belt asteroid 1515 Perrotin were named in his honor.

References

External links

Short biography

H. Perrotin
@

Astrophysics Data System The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) is an online database of over 16 million astronomy and physics papers from both peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed sources. Abstracts are available free online for almost all articles, and full scanne ...

Obituaries

AN 165 (1904) 253/254

''The Observatory'', Vol. 27, p. 175-182 (1904) 1845 births 1904 deaths Discoverers of asteroids * 19th-century French astronomers Recipients of the Lalande Prize {{france-astronomer-stub