• (b.) 1932 November 19 - (d.) 2009 January 25

Bio/Description

Principal investigator of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program, Helin was one of the most prolific discoverers of minor planets in the history of astronomy. Over her career, she discovered or co-discovered 903 asteroids and several comets, including periodic comets 111P/Helin–Roman–Crockett, 117P/Helin–Roman–Alu, and 132P/Helin–Roman–Alu.

Helin is also credited as the discoverer of the object known as both asteroid 4015 Wilson–Harrington and comet 107P/Wilson–Harrington. Although Wilson and Harrington had observed the object decades earlier, their observations had not established an orbit for it; Helin's rediscovery did.

Harvest Supervised By: Aaron Sylvan
  • Date of Birth:

    1932 November 19
  • Date of Death:

    2009 January 25
  • Gender:

    Female (she/her)
  • Noted For:

    NASA Asteroid Tracking Pioneer
  • Category of Achievement:

  • More Info: