Sylvain Julien Victor Arend (6 August 1902 – 18 February 1992) was a Belgian

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 ...

born in

Robelmont Robelmont (; Gaumais: ''Roubiémont'') is a village of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Meix-devant-Virton, located in the province of Luxembourg, Belgium. The asteroid 1145 Robelmonte is named after the village, in honour of the ...

, Luxembourg province, Belgium. His main interest was

astrometry Astrometry is a branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other Astronomical object, celestial bodies. It provides the kinematics and physical origin of the Solar System and this galaxy, th ...

. Together with Georges Roland, he discovered the bright

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/1956 R1 (Arend-Roland). He also discovered, or co-discovered, the periodic comets 49P/Arend-Rigaux and

50P/Arend Comet Arend or 50P/Arend is a periodic comet in the Solar System which was discovered on October 4, 1951. It was discovered by astronomer Sylvain Julien Victor Arend at the Royal Observatory of Belgium located in the municipality of Uccle. ...

Nova Scuti 1952 A nova ( novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white d ...

, and a number of

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, including notably the

Amor asteroid The Amor asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids named after the archetype object 1221 Amor . The orbital perihelion of these objects is close to, but greater than, the orbital aphelion of Earth (i.e., the objects do not cross Earth's orbit ...

1916 Boreas and the

Trojan asteroid In astronomy, a trojan is a small celestial body (mostly asteroids) that shares the orbit of a larger body, remaining in a stable orbit approximately 60° ahead of or behind the main body near one of its Lagrangian points and . Trojans can shar ...

1583 Antilochus. He also discovered 1652 Hergé which is named after

Hergé Georges Prosper Remi (; 22 May 1907 – 3 March 1983), known by the pen name Hergé ( ; ), from the French pronunciation of his reversed initials ''RG'', was a Belgian comic strip artist. He is best known for creating ''The Adventures of T ...

, the creator of ''

The Adventures of Tintin ''The Adventures of Tintin'' ( ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a c ...

''. The asteroid 1563 Noël is named after his son, Emanuel Arend. In 1948, Arend started together with sixteen other people the skeptic organisation

Comité Para The , in full (from French: "Belgian Committee for the Critical Analysis of Parasciences"), is a francophone-Belgian non-profit organisation of skeptics. Founded in 1949, the regards itself as the originator of the modern skeptical movement. ...

. The outer main-belt asteroid 1502 Arenda was named in his honor.

List of discovered minor planets

List of discovered comets

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arend, Sylvain 1902 births 1992 deaths 20th-century Belgian astronomers Belgian skeptics Discoverers of asteroids Discoverers of comets * People from Meix-devant-Virton