Deidre A. Hunter is an American astronomer at

Lowell Observatory Lowell Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. Lowell Observatory was established in 1894, placing it among the oldest observatories in the United States, and was designated a National Historic Landmark ...

. Her primary research area is tiny irregular galaxies — their origins, evolution and star-formation properties. She uses many parts of the

electromagnetic spectrum The electromagnetic spectrum is the full range of electromagnetic radiation, organized by frequency or wavelength. The spectrum is divided into separate bands, with different names for the electromagnetic waves within each band. From low to high ...

, and includes spectroscopy in her approach.

Education

Hunter's BS is from the University of Arizona (1975) and her PhD in astronomy from the University of Illinois in 1982. Her thesis was on the star-forming properties of irregular galaxies. It earned an award from the

Astronomical Society of the Pacific The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) is an American scientific and educational organization, founded in San Francisco on February 7, 1889, immediately following the solar eclipse of January 1, 1889. Its name derives from its origins on ...

Career

Hunter was a postdoctoral fellow at

Kitt Peak National Observatory The Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) is a United States astronomy, astronomical observatory located on Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono Oʼodham Nation, west-southwest of Tucson, Arizona. With ...

and the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the

Carnegie Institution The Carnegie Institution for Science, also known as Carnegie Science and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, is an organization established to fund and perform scientific research in the United States. This institution is headquartered in Wa ...

of Washington. She joined Lowell Observatory in 1986. Hunter ran Lowell’s Native Americans Astronomy Outreach Program for 25 years, sharing astronomy with 4th-8th grade Navajo and Hopi teachers and their classes.

Awards and honors

* Robert J. Trumpler Award for her thesis *

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 ...

’s 2014 Education Prize, partly for her involvement with Lowell's outreach program. * Elected a Legacy Fellow of the

in 2020. * 165574 Deidre, asteroid

Research

* * * *

References

External links