Patrick Wiggins (born 1949) is an American amateur astronomer, and a

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 ...

as well as

supernovae A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion. The original ob ...

. Wiggins worked as an educator at the Old Hansen Planetarium in Salt Lake City, Utah for 26 years before retirement. he works for the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

Department of Physics and Astronomy doing science outreach in the public schools.

Awards and honors

* In 2014, Wiggins received the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest honor NASA awards to a non employee. * Asteroid 4099 Wiggins, discovered by Henri Debehogne at

La Silla Observatory La Silla Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Chile with three telescopes built and operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Several other telescopes are also located at the site and are partly maintained by ESO. The observato ...

in 1988, was named in his honor. The official was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Funct ...

on 6 January 2007 ().

References

Discoverers of minor planets 1949 births Living people Amateur astronomers {{US-astronomer-stub