Brian Marsden, 1937 - 2010

I'm sad to say that the eminent astronomer, and my friend, Brian Marsden died today. This one is tough. I knew Brian; not terribly well, but we were friends. He was the Director Emeritus of the Harvard Smithsonian Minor Planet Center, having run the asteroid and comet clearing house for many years. Anyone from anywhere in the world who discovered a minor body sent the note and data to him. He may not be a household name, but every planetary astronomer on Earth, and many amateurs as well, knew him by name. You can read his obituary online, and I imagine a lot of bloggers will be writing stories about him -- he was quite a character. Let me tell you one of mine. Back in 1997 or so, I was working on STIS, a Hubble camera that had just been lofted into space and installed into the observatory. We ...