+ Minor planets discovered: 257 see

James Whitney Young (born January 24, 1941) is an American astronomer who worked in the field of asteroid research. After nearly 47 years with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at their Table Mountain Facility, Young retired July 16, 2009.

He observed the physical properties and astrometric positions of many minor planets, and had discovered more than 250 asteroids since 2002, most of them from the main-belt, as well as several near-Earth objects, Mars-crossers and Jupiter trojans. He also discovered SN 2004eg, an extra-galactic supernova.

The Florian asteroid 2874 Jim Young was named in his honor.

Biography

James W. Young (aka Jim Young) was born in Portland, Oregon and recently retired as the resident astronomer of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Table Mountain Observatory (TMO) near Wrightwood, California having been with them for 47 years.

Young was the lead technical guide at the NASA exhibit of the Seattle World's Fair during 1962. It was there he was encouraged to apply for an 'assistant observer' and 'darkroom technician' position at the recently developed Table Mountain Observatory with its new telescope which had just begun full operations in late 1962.

Table Mountain Observatory

Along with Charles F. Capen, Jr. (TMO's first resident astronomer), Young carried out photographic synoptic patrols using specific colors (UV through IR) of Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Several technical reports were published of 'patrol' images of Mars during two Martian apparitions (1964–65 and 1966–67). The 1964 inferior conjunction of Venus was well observed from TMO. Color astrophotography was carefully investigated for planetary imaging using recently developed high speed color film emulsions.

With the newly (1966) installed Cassegrain/Coudé telescope, Young began his asteroid observations with JPL astronomers, Ellis D. Miner and Alan W. Harris. Asteroid rotational rates became his speciality soon thereafter and by 1980, over 30 publications in Icarus with Alan W. Harris resulted in nearly half of the (then) known rotational rates of these small solar system bodies.

With the advent of powerful lasers, Young became involved with several projects that aimed lasers successfully, first at the Surveyor VII spacecraft on the Moon (1968), later as two laser ranging programs developed at JPL in the 1990s found their marks on low and high earth orbiting satellites, and finally to the Galileo spacecraft some 6 million kilometers from Earth. In each case, Young was responsible for aiming/tracking the telescope on each successive target.

Hypersensitization

Other noteworthy projects Young was involved in included the 1969 installation of a large planetary spectrograph utilizing the Coudé focus of the telescope. Spectroscopic studies of the planet Venus were carried out by JPL astronomers, Andrew and Louise Young, with Jim Young assisting with hypersensitization of Eastman Kodak IR spectroscopic glass plates. Jim Young developed a new technique of cold storage for these extremely sensitive plates. His experimentation of 'clean' and properly washed plates, stored at −70 °C. for over two years, were without increased noise or loss of sensitivity. Previous experimenters could manage around a two-month reliability.

2-Micron All Sky Survey

In 1998, Young was asked to be an official observer for the 2-Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), a joint venture of Caltech (California Institute of Technology) and the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass). Young carried out observations for this project at Mount Hopkins (south of Tucson, Arizona) and at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile until 2000, all the while maintaining his full Table Mountain Observatory responsibilities for JPL.

Near Earth Objects

Late in 2002, Young began his last asteroid research, centering on NEOs and comets that have been discovered by several NASA funded NEO search teams such as NEAT, LINEAR, LONEOS, Catalina Sky Survey (CSS), and Spacewatch. With the use of Astrometrica software, Young become an extremely prolific astrometrist for the Minor Planet Center (MPC) of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The director of the MPC, Dr. Brian G. Marsden called Young the third most accurate and reliable observer in the world then. He also co-authored and authored over 1500 MPECs (Minor Planet Electronic Circulars) and IAUCs (International Astronomical Union Circulars) during these last 7 years at JPL. NASA awarded Young a three-year grant to further his studies of NEOs and comets for JPL and the MPC during the last years before his retirement.

In 2003 Young accepted a new responsibility as 'Astronomy Team Leader' at Table Mountain, and supervised a staff of three employees in maintaining two optical telescopes (0.4 and 0.6 meter cassegrain systems), four CCD cameras, and a computer network of over 20 computers. Young maintained the optical performance of the telescopes, and the vacuum requirements for the CCD cameras. He also was in charge of the telescope scheduling for all visiting astronomers and his staff. TMO recently placed their new on-line webpage for all users as well as the public (see below link).

List of discovered minor planets

James Whitney Young is credited as "J. W. Young" by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of 256 minor planets made between 2002 and 2009.

78577 JPL 10 September 2002 84882 Table Mountain 1 February 2003 90525 Karijanberg 17 March 2004 95939 Thagnesland 30 May 2003 114239 Bermarmi 21 November 2002 115312 Whither 19 September 2003 115477 Brantanica 19 October 2003 22 October 2003 115891 Scottmichael 14 November 2003 116446 McDermid 5 January 2004 116903 Jeromeapt 11 April 2004 120038 Franlainsher 26 January 2003 120174 Jeffjenny 23 May 2003 128297 Ashlevi 13 December 2003 2 September 2004 7 November 2004 133280 Bryleen 18 September 2003 133527 Fredearly 5 October 2003 7 November 2004 142084 Jamesdaniel 29 August 2002 24 November 2002 144692 Katemary 9 April 2004 145166 Leojematt 3 May 2005 147397 Bobhazel 30 March 2003 2 July 2005 15 September 2005 6 February 2003 24 October 2005 150035 Williamson 20 November 2005 1 September 2005 21 November 2005 20 January 2003 158899 Malloryvale 17 August 2004 24 October 2003 163626 Glatfelter 27 October 2002 23 October 2003 2 November 2002 4 November 2002 5 November 2002 7 April 2006 15 September 2003 20 October 2003 9 December 2003 16 October 2006 14 November 2003 177065 Samuelnoah 30 March 2003 17 November 2003 177625 Dembicky 8 May 2004 26 March 2003 19 October 2003 20 October 2003 14 March 2004 13 May 2004 16 October 2006 2 November 2002 25 March 2003 184064 Miner 10 April 2004 185641 Judd 5 March 2008 12 February 2004 23 October 2005 8 July 2005 23 October 2005 189944 Leblanc 3 October 2003 10 November 2004 22 May 2003 7 October 2003 19 June 2004 21 March 2003 18 October 2003 198110 Heathrhoades 17 September 2004 1 May 2006 201777 Deronda 24 November 2003 30 September 2004 15 October 2003 12 February 2004 10 November 2004 4 June 2006 14 September 2007 17 January 2005 26 March 2003 22 May 2003 15 September 2003 4 October 2004 13 November 2002 7 October 2003 8 October 2003 15 November 2006 216780 Lilianne 27 August 2006 1 September 2005 30 September 2005 12 September 2003 8 May 2004 30 August 2004 221019 Raine 13 August 2005 22 November 2005 16 May 2007 15 September 2003 10 November 2004 10 November 2004 224067 Colemila 8 July 2005 22 March 2003 14 September 2004 23 October 2005 5 September 2005 23 February 2006 21 January 2003 18 November 2003 5 August 2007 20 October 2003 19 January 2005 8 February 2006 2 October 2008 5 November 2002 13 September 2007 8 September 2004 2 July 2005 13 August 2005 1 November 2006 15 September 2005 19 November 2005 26 March 2003 20 May 2003 11 January 2004 11 August 2004 20 November 2005 4 September 2006 1 November 2006 2 November 2007 14 November 2003 13 December 2003 22 June 2004 10 November 2004 29 August 2005 19 June 2006 22 August 2006 21 July 2003 1 July 2005 11 September 2002 3 September 2003 25 October 2002 15 September 2003 24 March 2004 18 May 2007 16 July 2007 5 September 2008 5 November 2002 23 May 2003 4 February 2005 23 September 2008 28 September 2008 15 May 2007 281445 Scotthowe 28 September 2008 2 November 2002 24 November 2002 31 March 2003 29 September 2003 11 March 2004 24 March 2004 16 August 2004 2 September 2004 7 October 2004 12 August 2005 25 September 2005 11 February 2006 16 May 2007 12 March 2008 15 June 2008 23 January 2004 18 August 2004 13 August 2005 22 January 2006 7 February 2006 30 August 2006 301021 Sofiarodriguez 23 September 2008 303265 Littmann 8 September 2004 20 January 2005 26 March 2003 15 December 2007 13 November 2006 313892 Furnish 8 May 2004 20 November 2005 20 December 2005 15 November 2006 14 March 2007 323552 Trudybell 2 October 2004 4 February 2006 10 September 2004 327421 Yanamandra 20 November 2005 4 February 2006 17 December 2003 22 June 2004 19 January 2005 7 May 2006 17 August 2004 29 May 2008 8 May 2004 11 August 2004 1 September 2005 20 November 2005 20 January 2003 18 January 2005 19 January 2005 4 April 2008 14 February 2004 5 February 2003 25 March 2004 28 September 2008 4 November 2002 25 March 2003 29 June 2004 7 January 2009 6 February 2003 11 August 2004 11 January 2006 19 December 2005 1 September 2006 29 April 2006 364166 Trebek 1 May 2006 2 February 2008 21 July 2007 28 October 2008 11 January 2004 20 November 2005 3 November 2002 10 March 2007 24 July 2007 28 October 2008 10 April 2004 20 January 2005 13 July 2007 21 July 2007 31 March 2003 29 September 2005 19 March 2008 10 September 2008 16 May 2007 14 October 2007 18 October 2003 410817 Zaffino 19 June 2009 12 November 2005 416273 Glennsnyder 8 April 2003 416583 Jacereece 8 May 2004 29 October 2005 29 April 2006 25 March 2004 13 March 2004 4 November 2005 19 November 2005 7 April 2006 18 November 2007 29 September 2005 4 October 2004 22 November 2005 10 September 2008 6 September 2006 22 June 2004 27 January 2003 16 August 2005 5 November 2002 7 April 2006 10 September 2008 1 June 2006 20 January 2005 1 May 2006 29 August 2006 29 August 2006 16 September 2005 19 May 2004 2 November 2002 28 September 2005 3 September 2006 12 August 2005 16 May 2007 1 February 2009 17 May 2007 29 August 2005 3 September 2006 4 September 2006 14 December 2007 16 May 2009 10 January 2006 2 May 2006 29 June 2008 1 October 2008 15 March 2004 4 November 2002 29 August 2006 13 August 2005 22 May 2003 11 March 2004 24 August 2006 14 February 2004 26 March 2003 22 November 2002 12 November 2002 17 August 2004 14 March 2004 16 August 2004 16 August 2004 16 July 2007 4 February 2005 3 November 2002 25 November 2004 31 March 2003 22 May 2003 5 October 2003 26 March 2003 20 January 2005 24 March 2007 21 November 2008 1 October 2005Co-discovery made with: A. Grigsby

Outreach

Young taught an astronomy extension course for the University of California, Riverside in 1969 and 1970 specifically for high school and junior college teachers and educators.