Peter Jenniskens

Peter Jenniskens
Jenniskens in the Nubian Desert, February 2009
Born1962 (age 61–62)
Meterik, Limburg, Netherlands
NationalityDutch, American
EducationM.S. Leiden University (1988)
Ph.D. Leiden University (1992)
Occupation(s)Astronomer, Explorer
SETI Institute
NASA Ames Research Center

Petrus Matheus Marie (Peter) Jenniskens (born 1962 in Meterik)[1] is a Dutch-American astronomer and a senior research scientist at the Carl Sagan Center of the SETI Institute and at NASA Ames Research Center.[2] He is an expert on meteor showers, and wrote the book Meteor Showers and their Parent Comets, published in 2006 and Atlas of Earth’s Meteor Showers, published in 2023.[3][4] He is past president of Commission 22 of the International Astronomical Union (2012–2015) and was chair of the Working Group on Meteor Shower Nomenclature (2006–2012) after it was first established.[5][6] Asteroid 42981 Jenniskens is named in his honor.

In 2008, Jenniskens, together with Muawia Shaddad, led a team from the University of Khartoum in Sudan that recovered fragments of asteroid 2008 TC3 in the Nubian Desert, marking the first time meteorite fragments had been found from an object that was previously tracked in outer space before hitting Earth.[7][8]

  1. ^ Derix, Govert (2012). "Waren de goden meteorieten?" [Were the gods meteorites?]. Zuid Magazine (in Dutch). Vol. 3, no. 14. p. 24.
  2. ^ Career pages of astronomer Dr. Peter Jenniskens
  3. ^ Jenniskens P., Meteor Showers and their Parent Comets. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 790 pp.
  4. ^ "Atlas of Earth's Meteor Showers - 1st Edition". shop.elsevier.com. Retrieved 2023-11-18.
  5. ^ IAU Meteor Data Center
  6. ^ "International Astronomical Union | IAU". www.iau.org. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
  7. ^ "NASA Team Finds Riches in Meteorite Treasure Hunt". NASA. 2009-03-27. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
  8. ^ Jenniskens, P.; et al. (2009-03-26). "The impact and recovery of asteroid 2008 TC3". Nature. 458 (7237): 485–488. Bibcode:2009Natur.458..485J. doi:10.1038/nature07920. PMID 19325630. S2CID 7976525.