Cornelis Johannes "Kees" van Houten (18 February 1920 – 24 August 2002) was a
Dutch astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...
.
Early life and education
Born in
The Hague
The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
, he spent his entire career at
Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...
except for a brief period (1954–1956) as a research assistant at
Yerkes Observatory
Yerkes Observatory ( ) is an astronomical observatory located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, United States. The observatory was operated by the University of Chicago Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics from its founding in 1897 until 2018. O ...
.
Family
He married fellow astronomer Ingrid Groeneveld (who became
Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld
Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld (; ; 21 October 1921 – 30 March 2015) was a Dutch astronomer.
Background
In a jointly credited trio with Tom Gehrels and her husband Cornelis Johannes van Houten, she was the discoverer of many thousands of as ...
) and together they became interested in
asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...
s. They had one son, Karel.
Work as astronomer
In a jointly credited trio with
Tom Gehrels and Ingrid, he was an extremely prolific discoverer of many thousands of asteroids. Gehrels did a sky survey using the
48-inch Schmidt telescope at
Palomar Observatory
The Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in the Palomar Mountains of San Diego County, California, United States. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Research time at the observat ...
and shipped the plates to the van Houtens at
Leiden Observatory
Leiden Observatory () is an astronomical institute of Leiden University, in the Netherlands. Established in 1633 to house the quadrant of Willebrord Snellius, it is the oldest operating university observatory in the world, with the only older sti ...
, who analyzed them for new asteroids. The trio are jointly credited with several thousand discoveries. When the
orbit
In celestial mechanics, an orbit (also known as orbital revolution) is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an ...
of an asteroid is determined, it can be classified as an
Apollo asteroid (e.g.
1862 Apollo
1862 Apollo is a stony asteroid, approximately 1.5 kilometers in diameter, classified as a near-Earth object (NEO). It was discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth at Heidelberg Observatory on 24 April 1932, but lost and not recovered unti ...
), an
Amor asteroid
The Amor asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids named after the archetype object 1221 Amor . The orbital perihelion of these objects is close to, but greater than, the orbital aphelion of Earth (i.e., the objects do not cross Earth's orbit ...
(e.g.
1221 Amor
1221 Amor is an asteroid and near-Earth object on an eccentric orbit, approximately in diameter. It is the namesake of the Amor asteroids, the second-largest subgroup of near-Earth objects. It was discovered by Eugène Delporte at the Uccle ...
) or a
Trojan asteroid
In astronomy, a trojan is a small celestial body (mostly asteroids) that shares the orbit of a larger body, remaining in a stable orbit approximately 60° ahead of or behind the main body near one of its Lagrangian points and . Trojans can shar ...
(e.g. 55701 Ukalegon).
:Statistics of asteroids were scarcely known until the 1950s when C. J. and I. van Houten made them their lives' dedication in the Yerkes-McDonald Survey and the
Palomar-Leiden surveys . The van Houtens did not just do most of the work, but they also took care of bias problems in an exemplary manner."
[ Tom Gehrels (1999) "Review of Comet and Asteroid Statistics", Earth, Planets and Space 51: 1155 to 1161]
He also studied the
radial velocities of close
binary star
A binary star or binary star system is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved as separate stars us ...
s. He never retired, but remained active and published articles until his death, on asteroids and
eclipsing binaries
A binary star or binary star system is a system of two stars that are gravitationally bound to and in orbit around each other. Binary stars in the night sky that are seen as a single object to the naked eye are often resolved as separate stars us ...
. The main-belt asteroid
1673 van Houten was named in his honor.
See also
*
Ida Barney
Ida Barney (November 6, 1886 – March 7, 1982) was an American astronomer, best known for her 22 volumes of astrometric measurements on 150,000 stars. She was educated at Smith College and Yale University and spent most of her career at the Ya ...
*
Palomar–Leiden survey
References
External links
Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Houten, Cornelis Johannes Van
1920 births
2002 deaths
Discoverers of asteroids
*
20th-century Dutch astronomers
Leiden University alumni
Academic staff of Leiden University
Scientists from The Hague