{"id":18851,"date":"2017-08-01T23:29:30","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T15:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/seattle-science-educator-dennis-schatz-celebrates-his-asteroid-and-the-eclipse\/"},"modified":"2017-08-01T23:29:30","modified_gmt":"2017-08-01T15:29:30","slug":"seattle-science-educator-dennis-schatz-celebrates-his-asteroid-and-the-eclipse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/seattle-science-educator-dennis-schatz-celebrates-his-asteroid-and-the-eclipse\/","title":{"rendered":"Seattle science educator Dennis Schatz celebrates his asteroid \u2013 and the eclipse"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_352740\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-352740\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-352740\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/170801-schatz-630x444.jpg\" alt=\"Dennis Schatz\" width=\"630\" height=\"444\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/170801-schatz-630x444.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/170801-schatz.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-352740\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dennis Schatz is senior adviser at the Pacific Science Center. (Dennis Schatz via Amazon.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Pacific Science Center\u2019s senior adviser, Dennis Schatz, has achieved a kind of fame that so far has eluded the likes of Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates: getting his name on an asteroid.<\/p>\n<p>Asteroid Schatz joins more than 20,000 other \u201cminor planets\u201d that have been named after people, places and things. That represents only a small percentage of the more than 734,000 such objects that have been cataloged by the International Astronomical Union\u2019s Minor Planet Center.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s generally up to an asteroid\u2019s discoverer to propose a name for approval by the IAU, in accordance with a set of naming rules. (For example, no dictators need apply.) On occasion, the Minor Planet Center takes requests.<\/p>\n<p>In Schatz\u2019s case, it was Larry Wasserman, a planetary scientist at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, who suggested the name. Asteroid 25232, previously known as 1998 TN33, was discovered in 1998 by the Lowell Observatory Near-Earth Object Search, or LONEOS.<\/p>\n<p>Wasserman cited Schatz\u2019s status as an astronomer and educator who was vice president of the&nbsp;Pacific Science Center, president and workshop leader for the&nbsp;Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the author of 23&nbsp;children\u2019s books&nbsp;on science, and co-developer of educational programs such as&nbsp;Project ASTRO&nbsp;and&nbsp;Portal to the Public.<\/p>\n<p>Schatz told GeekWire that he\u2019s gratified to be honored.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s great,\u201d he said. \u201cThe big thing is that it\u2019s recognition of what I love doing: interacting with people, and science education in general.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Dennis Schatz, National Science Foundation\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/99652037?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Other Seattle-centric asteroid names include Jimihendrix (named after the famous rock guitarist \/ singer \/ songwriter), Frankherbert (honoring the Tacoma-born author of \u201cDune\u201d and other sci-fi classics) and Brownlee (paying tribute to University of Washington astronomer Don Brownlee).<\/p>\n<p>Although there\u2019s not yet an asteroid named Jeffbezos or Billgates, there is a space rock that pays tribute to Microsoft\u2019s other co-founder, Paul Allen, who has contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to scientific endeavors including the SETI Institute\u2019s Allen Telescope Array.<\/p>\n<p>Schatz doesn\u2019t make a big deal out of having a celestial body with his name on it. \u201cI have to admit,\u201d he said, \u201cI haven\u2019t looked out in space to say, \u2018There it is!&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Instead, he\u2019s making a big deal out of this month\u2019s total solar eclipse. And why not? He\u2019s the co-author of a children\u2019s book about eclipses, titled \u201cWhen the Sun Goes Dark,\u201d which is timed to take full advantage of America\u2019s coast-to-coast rendezvous with totality on Aug. 21.<\/p>\n<p>Tonight at 7 p.m., Schatz will give a presentation titled \u201cTotal Solar Eclipse 101\u201d at the Pacific Science Center\u2019s Paccar Theater. He\u2019ll explain what causes solar eclipses, how to view then safely, and what makes this month\u2019s event so special. Copies of his book will be available for purchase and signing.<\/p>\n<p>Schatz will also be previewing the eclipse during three talks presented by the Seattle Public Library between now and Aug. 21:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span data-term=\"goog_314845400\">Aug. 5<\/span>&nbsp; at&nbsp;<span data-term=\"goog_314845401\">2 p.m. at the<\/span>&nbsp;Seattle Central Library.<\/li>\n<li><span data-term=\"goog_314845402\">Aug. 12<\/span>&nbsp;at&nbsp;<span data-term=\"goog_314845403\">11 a.m. at<\/span>&nbsp;NewHolly Public Library.<\/li>\n<li><span data-term=\"goog_314845404\">Aug. 12<\/span>&nbsp;at&nbsp;<span data-term=\"goog_314845405\">3 p.m. at&nbsp;<\/span>West Seattle Public Library.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you\u2019re looking for Schatz on Eclipse Day, don\u2019t look in Seattle, where merely 92 percent of the sun\u2019s disk will be covered. He\u2019s planning to be in the path of totality, in Prineville, Ore., where he has been planning a family reunion for 50 folks of all ages.<\/p>\n<p>And if Schatz brings a telescope powerful enough, he just might be able to spot his asteroid in the stretch of sky between the constellations Aquarius and Capricorn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dennis Schatz is senior adviser at the Pacific Science Center. (Dennis Schatz via Amazon.com) The Pacific Science Center\u2019s senior adviser, Dennis Schatz, has achieved a kind of fame that so far has eluded the likes of Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates: getting his name on an asteroid. Asteroid Schatz joins more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1519,5352,1409,4918,1418,21],"class_list":["post-18851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-asteroids","tag-dennis-schatz","tag-eclipse","tag-pacific-science-center","tag-solar-eclipse","tag-space"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18851"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18851\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}