Edwin Foster Coddington (June 24, 1870 – December 21, 1950) was an American
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 ...
and discoverer of
astronomical objects.
He co-discovered the
comet
A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...
C/1898 L1 (Coddington-Pauly), also known by the older designation Comet 1898 VII. He also discovered 3
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,
and the
galaxy
A galaxy is a Physical system, system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar medium, interstellar gas, cosmic dust, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek ' (), literally 'milky', ...
IC 2574 in
Ursa Major
Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear, is a constellation in the Northern Sky, whose associated mythology likely dates back into prehistory. Its Latin name means "greater (or larger) bear", referring to and contrasting it with nearby Ursa M ...
, which later became known as "Coddington's Nebula".
References
External links
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Portrait of Edwin Foster Coddington from the Lick Observatory Records Digital Archive, UC Santa Cruz Library's Digital Collections
1870 births
1950 deaths
19th-century American astronomers
20th-century American astronomers
Discoverers of asteroids
Discoverers of comets
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