Robert E. Holmes Jr. (b. 1956) is an American amateur astronomer and professional photographer. In 2002 Holmes founded Astronomical Research Institute (ARI), a non-profit organization offering students observation time from telescopes installed at the Astronomical Research Observatory originally in

Charleston, Illinois Charleston is a city in and the county seat of Coles County, Illinois, United States. The population was 17,286, as of the 2020 census. The city is home to Eastern Illinois University and has close ties with its neighbor, Mattoon, Illinois, Ma ...

and later at

Westfield, Illinois Westfield is a village in Westfield Township, Clark County, Illinois, United States. The population was 536 at the 2020 census, down from 601 at the 2010 census. History The village of Westfield was laid out in 1839, and a post office opened th ...

. 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 ...

credits him with the discovery of thirteen asteroids made between 2004 and 2010, partly in collaboration with

Harlan Devore 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 nu ...

and Tomáš Vorobjov. In 2008, with and

robotic telescope A robotic telescope is an astronomical telescope and detector system that makes observations without the intervention of a human. In astronomical disciplines, a telescope qualifies as robotic if it makes those observations without being operated ...

s at his Charleston observatory that he built himself, Holmes reported 11,593 observations of asteroids and near-earth objects to the Minor Planet Center, more than any other professional or amateur observatory. Holmes discovered comet C/2008 N1 (Holmes).MPEC 2008-N19
/ref> The asteroid

5477 Holmes 5477 Holmes, provisional designation , is a Hungaria asteroid and binary system from the innermost regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 27 October 1989, by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at the Palo ...

is named for him.M.P.C. 73983, February 18, 2011
/ref>

References

External links

Astronomical Research InstituteRobert Holmes: Shoemaker NEO Grant recipient
profile,

The Planetary Society The Planetary Society is an American internationally-active non-governmental nonprofit organization. It is involved in research, public outreach, and political space advocacy for engineering projects related to astronomy, planetary science, a ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Robert 1956 births 21st-century American astronomers Discoverers of minor planets Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Amateur astronomers

See also

References

Further reading

External links