Henry E. Holt
American astronomer (1929–2019)
title: "Henry E. Holt" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1929-births", "2019-deaths", "20th-century-american-astronomers", "discoverers-of-asteroids", "discoverers-of-comets", "northern-arizona-university-faculty", "united-states-geological-survey-personnel", "discoveries-by-henry-e.-holt"] description: "American astronomer (1929–2019)" topic_path: "philosophy" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_E._Holt" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary American astronomer (1929–2019) ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Jack_Schmitt_and_Henry_Holt.png" caption="Henry Holt (right) with [[Jack Schmitt]] at the Arizona Bank Building"] ::
]] ::data[format=table title="[[Minor planet]]s discovered: 689"]
| ''see {{section link | List of discovered minor planets}}'' |
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Henry E. Holt (September 27, 1929 – May 5, 2019) was an American astronomer and prolific discoverer of minor planets and comets, who has worked as a planetary geologist at the United States Geological Survey and Northern Arizona University.
Career
In the 1960s he studied the photometric properties of the lunar surface as part of the Surveyor and Apollo programs.
Between 1989 and 1993, he has discovered nearly 700 minor planets, and ranks among the Top 30 discoverers in MPC's list. His discoveries including the potentially hazardous asteroid 4581 Asclepius, the numbered asteroid that has made the closest approach to Earth at the time, as well as the near-Earth asteroid 4544 Xanthus, and the main-belt asteroid 6312 Robheinlein, which he named after famous science fiction author, Robert Heinlein. He is also a co-discoverer of the three periodic comets 121P/Shoemaker-Holt, 127P/Holt–Olmstead (discovered with C. Michelle Olmstead), and 128P/Shoemaker-Holt.
Awards and honors
The Mars-crossing asteroid 4435 Holt was named in his honor. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on January 30, 1991 (M.P.C. 17656).
Minor planet 4582 Hank is named after his son, Henry Reid Holt.
List of discovered minor planets
Henry Holt made some of his discoveries in collaboration with: Norman G. Thomas, David Levy, Jeffery A. Brown, and Carolyn Shoemaker ::data[format=table]
| 5447 Lallement | 6 August 1991 | |
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| 6013 Andanike | 18 July 1991 | |
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::data[format=table]
| 13 July 1991 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 7060 Al-'Ijliya | 16 September 1990 | |
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::data[format=table]
| 5 August 1991 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 15 September 1991 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 14 September 1990 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 15 September 1991 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 10081 Dantaylor | 29 July 1990 | |
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::data[format=table]
| 18 June 1990 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 10 September 1991 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 7 August 1991 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 7 August 1991 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 26 August 1990 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 23 August 1990 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 24 August 1990 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 13 October 1993 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 28 September 1992 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 11 September 1991 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 14 September 1990 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 23 August 1990 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 14 September 1990 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 15 September 1991 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 10 August 1991 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 14 October 1993 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 7 August 1991 | ||
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::data[format=table]
| 15 September 1991 | ||
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::data[format=table] | Co-discovery made with: N. G. Thomas D. H. Levy J. A. Brown C. S. Shoemaker | |---| ::
References
|title = Minor Planet Discoverers (by number) |work = Minor Planet Center |url = https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/lists/MPDiscsNum.html |date = 11 July 2018 |access-date = 18 July 2018}}
|title = Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (4435) Holt |last = Schmadel | first = Lutz D. |publisher = Springer Berlin Heidelberg |page = 381 |date = 2007 |isbn = 978-3-540-00238-3 |doi = 10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_4384 |chapter = (4435) Holt }}
|title = MPC/MPO/MPS Archive |work = Minor Planet Center |url = https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/ECS/MPCArchive/MPCArchive_TBL.html |access-date = 13 April 2018}}
|title = 6312 Robheinlein (1990 RH4) |work = Minor Planet Center |url = https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=6312 |access-date = 25 January 2016}}
References
- (1990-09-01). "Comet Holt-Olmstead (1990k)". International Astronomical Union Circular.
- (2003). "(4582) Hank In: Dictionary of Minor Planet Names". Springer.
- "Henry E Holt". Find a Grave.
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