Gary Hug is an American amateur
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 a prolific
discoverer of minor planets
This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 num ...
, who, along with
Graham E. Bell, operates the
Farpoint Observatory and Sandlot Observatory in Kansas, United States.
He is the co-discoverer of comet
178P/Hug-Bell and was awarded twice a ''Gene Shoemaker NEO Grant'' for improved
near-Earth object
A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body orbiting the Sun whose closest approach to the Sun ( perihelion) is less than 1.3 times the Earth–Sun distance (astronomical unit, AU). This definition applies to the object's orbit a ...
searches in 2009 and 2018, respectively.
Hug also represents the ''Northeast Kansas Amateur Astronomer's League''.
List of discovered minor planets
References
External links
*
Tracking Asteroids From A Backyard In Kansas interview with Gary Hug
This Amateur Astronomer Built An Observatory In His Backyard Popular Science, by Sarah Fecht, 21 June 2016
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20th-century American astronomers
Discoverers of asteroids
Discoverers of comets
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)