Carl Leo Stearns (1892-November 28, 1972) was an American

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 o ...

. After graduating from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the c ...

in 1917 with high honors in general scholarship and special honors in mathematics, Stearns received his PhD from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

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He became an instructor in mathematics and astronomy at Wesleyan in 1919. He became an assistant professor in 1920, then an associate professor in 1942 and a full professor in 1944. He served as chairman of the astronomy department at Wesleyan, then in 1960 he was named as emeritus Fisk professor of astronomy. From 1960–71, after serving as an assistant, he became director of the Van Vleck Observatory; the second to hold that position. During his career he computed more than 200 stellar

trigonometric parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different lines of sight and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to foreshortening, nearby objects ...

es. In 1927 he discovered the

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma, and sometimes also a Comet ta ...

1927 IV (comet Stearns, 1927d). It was observed for 4 years after perihelion until 1931 at a record distance of 11.5 AU. It is difficult to explain its activity based on water-dominated ice.

2035 Stearns 2035 Stearns, provisional designation , is a bright Hungaria asteroid and sizable Mars-crosser inside the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 21 September 1973, by American astronomer James Gibson ...

, a

Mars-crossing asteroid A Mars-crossing asteroid (MCA, also Mars-crosser, MC) is an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars. Some Mars-crossers numbered below 100000 are listed here. They include the two numbered Mars trojans 5261 Eureka and . Many databases, for in ...

was named after him, as is the crater '' Stearns'' on the

far side of the Moon The far side of the Moon is the lunar hemisphere that always faces away from Earth, opposite to the near side, because of synchronous rotation in the Moon's orbit. Compared to the near side, the far side's terrain is rugged, with a multitu ...

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stearns, Carl Leo Wesleyan University alumni 1892 births 1972 deaths American astronomers Wesleyan University faculty