George David Gatewood

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George David Gatewood (born 1940) also known as George G. Gatewood, is an American

planetary systems
. He came to popular attention with his 1996 announcement of the discovery of a nearby multi-planet star system. This discovery has yet to be confirmed and is regarded with skepticism today.

Education

Gatewood received his B.A. in Astronomy from the

astrometric study of Barnard's Star.[2]

The Barnard's Star affair

Main article: Barnard's Star - Claims of a planetary system

In the 1960s astronomer

astrometry measurements made by van de Kamp with improved equipment and failed to detect any sign of Barnard's Star companions.[4]

The Lalande 21185 affair

Main article: Lalande 21185 - Claims of a planetary system

Despite his involvement in the

planetary system was present around this star, even though data from careful measurements he made himself a few years earlier indicated that large planets in this system were unlikely.[8] Numerous subsequent studies of this system have failed to confirm the presence of any planets and have also gradually discredited his claim.[9]

One popular science fiction novel written in the mid-1980s refers to "Lalande 21185" as "Gatewood's Star".[10] Likely Gatewood's name was chosen in response to the popular books and articles he wrote predicting the existence of possibly inhabited planets around this and other nearby stars at that time, as this novel preceded his announcement of planets in this system by a decade.[11]

Later research

Gatewood continued to be active in astronomy up through 2009. In 2009 he published his last papers; one is a refinement of the distances to several dim nearby stars, including the best current value for the distance to

Teegarden's star of 12.578 light years.[12]

Selected publications

Gatewood is a prolific researcher and writer with 157 publications since 1967. He has also authored several popular books on astronomy. The following is a list of recent publications listed on his Curriculum Vitae[13] as well as the university website.[14]

  • 2001 “A Combined Hipparcos and MAP Study of the Proposed Planetary System of Rho Coronae Borealis”, Ap J 548, L61. Gatewood, G., Han, I. & Black, D.C.
  • 2001 “Hipparcos and MAP Studies of the Triple Star Pi Cephei”, ApJ 549, 1145 Gatewood, G., Han, I., Kiewiet de Jonge, J., Reiland, C.T., & Pourbaix, D.
  • 2002 “A Precise Orbit Determination of chi 1 Orionis from Astrometric and Radial Velocity Data”, PASP 114, 224. Han, I. and Gatewood, G.
  • 2002, “An Upper Limit to the Mass of the Radial Velocity Companion of rho1 Cancri”, ApJ 564,L27-L30. M.A. McGarth, E. Nelson, D.C. Black, G. Gatewood, K. Noll, A. Schultz, S. Lubow, I. Han, T.F. Stepinski, T. Targett.
  • 2003, Update to “An Upper Limit to the Mass of the Radial Velocity Companion of rho1 Cancri”, Scientific Frontiers in Research on Extrasolar Planets, ASP Conference Series (ed D.Deming and S.Seager). M.A. McGarth, E. Nelan, K. Noll, A. Schultz, S. Lubow, D.C. Black, T.F.Stepinski, G. Gatewood, I Han, and T. Targett.
  • 2003 “An Astrometric Study of the Low-Mass Binary Star Ross 614", AJ 125, 1530, George Gatewood, Han, I., and Louis Coban.
  • 2004 "The Allegheny Observatory CCD Parallax Program," G. Gatewood, Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, The Annual Meeting of the AAS Division on Dynamical Astronomy, Cannes, France, BAAS, 36, 854.
  • 2005 "An Astrometric Study of the Binary Star α Oph," G. Gatewood, AJ 130, 809.
  • 2006 "Preliminary Parallaxes from the Allegheny and Carnegie Observatories," G. Gatewood, A. Boss, A.J. Weinberger, I. Thompson, S. Majewski, R. Patterson, L. Coban, BAAS, 37, 1269.
  • 2006 "An Astrometric Study of Procyon," G. Gatewood and Inwoo Han, AJ 131, 1015.
  • 2009 "Allegheny Observatory Parallaxes for Late M Dwarfs and White Dwarfs," G. Gatewood, L. Coban, AJ 137, 402.

References

  1. ^ "George G. Gatewood". University of Pittsburgh. Archived from the original on 2008-12-27. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
  2. Bibcode:1972PhDT.........5G
    .
  3. doi:10.1086/111436
    .
  4. doi:10.1086/111480
    .
  5. doi:10.1086/111530
    .
  6. Bibcode:1996AAS...188.4011G
    .
  7. ^ John Wilford (1996-06-12). "Data Seem to Show a Solar System Nearly in the Neighborhood". The New York Times. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-05-29.
  8. doi:10.1086/116313
    .
  9. S2CID 17737644
    .
  10. Bluejay Books/St. Martin's Press
    .
  11. Bibcode:1980CosSe...2...12G
    .
  12. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/137/1/402
    .
  13. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-09-16. Retrieved 2009-09-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  14. ^ "George G. Gatewood | Physics & Astronomy". Archived from the original on 2008-12-27. Retrieved 2009-05-31.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_David_Gatewood&oldid=1193704207"