Jean-Luc Margot (born 1969) is a Belgian-born

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

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

professor who specializes in

planetary science Planetary science (or more rarely, planetology) is the scientific study of planets (including Earth), celestial bodies (such as moons, asteroids, comets) and planetary systems (in particular those of the Solar System) and the processes of their ...

Career

Margot has discovered and studied several

binary asteroid A binary asteroid is a system of two asteroids orbiting their common barycenter. The binary nature of 243 Ida was discovered when the Galileo spacecraft flew by the asteroid in 1993. Since then numerous binary asteroids and several triple a ...

s with radar and optical telescopes. His discoveries include (87) Sylvia I Romulus, (22) Kalliope I Linus, S/2003 (379) 1, (702) Alauda I Pichi üñëm, and the binary nature of (69230) Hermes. In 2000, he obtained the first images of binary

near-Earth asteroid A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun ( perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU) ...

s and described formation of the binary by a spin-up process. Margot and his research group have studied the influence of sunlight on the orbits and spins of asteroids, the Yarkovsky and YORP effects. In 2007, Margot and collaborators determined that Mercury has a molten core from the analysis of small variations in the rotation rate of the planet. These observations also enabled a measurement of the size of the core based on a concept proposed by Stan Peale. In 2012, Margot and graduate student Julia Fang analyzed

Kepler space telescope The Kepler space telescope is a disused space telescope launched by NASA in 2009 to discover Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars. Named after astronomer Johannes Kepler, the spacecraft was launched into an Earth-trailing heliocentric o ...

data to infer the architecture of planetary systems. They described planetary systems as "flatter than pancakes." They also showed that many planetary systems are dynamically packed. Between 2006 and 2021, Margot and collaborators measured the spin of Venus with a radar speckle tracking technique. They measured the orientation and

precession Precession is a change in the orientation of the rotational axis of a rotating body. In an appropriate reference frame it can be defined as a change in the first Euler angle, whereas the third Euler angle defines the rotation itself. In oth ...

of the spin axis. They also measured the duration of the length of day and the amplitude of length-of-day variations, which they attribute to transfer of momentum between the atmosphere and the solid planet. Since 2016, he has guided UCLA students in conducting searches for technosignatures with large radio telescopes.

Honors and awards

Margot was awarded the H. C. Urey Prize by the

American Astronomical Society The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...

in 2004. The

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. ...

9531 Jean-Luc is named after him.Small Body Orbital Elements
9531 Jean-Luc (1981 QK). JPL. Retrieved December 11, 2021.

References

External links

Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, UCLA

Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA

Personal web page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Margot, Jean-Luc Living people 20th-century Belgian astronomers Planetary scientists People associated with radar University of California, Los Angeles faculty 1969 births 21st-century American astronomers