Jean Chacornac

"Chacornac" redirects here. For the lunar crater, see Chacornac (crater).
Minor planets discovered: 6 [1]
25 Phocaea 6 April 1853 MPC
33 Polyhymnia 28 October 1854 MPC
34 Circe 6 April 1855 MPC
38 Leda 12 January 1856 MPC
39 Laetitia 8 February 1856 MPC
59 Elpis 12 September 1860 MPC

Jean Chacornac (21 June 1823 – 23 September 1873) was a French astronomer and discoverer of a comet and several asteroids.[2][3]

He was born in Lyon and died in Saint-Jean-en-Royans, southeastern France. Working in Marseille and Paris, he discovered six asteroids in the asteroid belt (see table) and C/1852 K1 (Chacornac), a parabolic comet in 1852.[4] This comet is thought to be the source of the current Eta Eridanids meteors.[5] He also independently discovered 20 Massalia, which discovery is credited to the Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis, however.[6]

Jean Chacornac was awarded the Lalande Prize in 1855, 1856 and in 1863. The asteroid 1622 Chacornac and the lunar crater Chacornac are named in his honour.[3]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference MPC-Discoverers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bio-Encyclopedia-Astronomers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference springer was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference jpldata-C/1852-K1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ohtsuka-2001 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Massalia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).