Asteroid (4533512) Hollyholman named after U researcher – @theU
Most of us have received a gift from a friend. When your friend is an astronomer, that gift might be a minor planet, as it was for Holly Holman, pilot and research assistant professor in biomedical engineering at the U. As of November 2022, the minor planet formerly known as 2010 DS63 is officially (433512) Hollyholman because Patrick Wiggins, associate instructor in physics and astronomy, submitted the name to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Minor Planet Center.
“I was excited and felt very honored when I heard,” said Holman. “My interest in astronomy started as an undergrad when I only used star plots to determine the day, month and year, and read about the Copernican Revolution. I even named my cat after Copernicus,” said Holman. “I’ve been looking up ever since.”
A minor planet is the official name for an asteroid, a small, rocky object that orbits the sun. Professional and amateur astronomers identify hundreds of celestial objects, and many exist fir years without a name; the Mt. Lemmon Survey in Tuscon, Arizona first saw (4533512) Hollyholman on Nov. 22, 2009. Wiggins has discovered and named dozens of space objects, including 80180/Elko after his hometown, and 391795/UnivofUtah after… well you get it. He suggested Holman’s name to the IAU to pay tribute to his friend, a researcher with impressive accomplishments and a love for the sky.
“Holly and I have been friends and fellow pilots for a few years and it’s the type of thing that astronomy types do from time to time,” said Wiggins. “She’s worked on vaccine development, DNA viruses, and discovered a new type of cell in the canals of the inner ear, now called clinocytes.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Patrick Wiggins
Patrick Wiggins (left) and Holly Holman (right) co-pilot in an aircraft.
Holman met Wiggins through the Salt Lake City chapter of Women in Aviation International, a non-profit that offers education, scholarships and mentorship to people who are interested in working with aircrafts. As an avid pilot, she hopes to contribute to the organization’s goal of boosting the number of women commercial airline pilots–the world total is only around 7%. As a biomedical engineer, Holman focuses on a subject very important to aviation, a subject she shares as a mentor to future pilots.
“I study the cell signaling in the vestibular organs in the inner ear that help us maintain our sense of balance and spatial orientation,” said Holman. “This is particularly relevant to pilots and astronauts.”
Wiggins is renowned for discovering new supernovae, which are the explosions of massive stars as they die out and the brightest phenomena in the universe. The method of identifying minor planets, supernovae or other space objects is tedious, but straight forward.
“One takes an image of the sky and archives that as the reference image. Then additional images are taken a few minutes or hours later and the new image is compared to the reference image. The background stars don’t move but anything that does move could be a minor planet,” said Wiggins.
He used this technique on Nov. 15, 2022 when he discovered a new supernova called SN 2022aaiq in the galaxy NGC 5631, located in the Ursa Major constellation. So, who will be the next lucky friend to receive an explosive gift?
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