James L. Elliot

James L. Elliot is a Professor of Physics; Professor of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences; and the Director, George R. Wallace, Jr. Astrophysical Observatory at MIT. Elliot was a part of a team which re-discovered the rings around the planet Uranus. [The Rings of Uranus J.L. Elliot, E. Dunham, D. Mink, Nature 267, pp. 328-330 & [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6569849.stm Uranus rings 'were seen in 1700s'] BBC News, 18 April 2007]

Elliot was a part of a team that observed global warming on Triton, the largest moon of Neptune. [ [http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/1998/23/text/ HubbleSite - NewsCenter - Hubble Space Telescope Helps Find Evidence that Neptune's Largest Moon Is Warming Up (06/24/1998) - Release Text ] ] [Elliot, J. L., H. B. Hammel, L. H. Wasserman, O. G. Franz, S. W. McDonald, M. J. Person, C. B. Olkin, E. W. Dunham, J. R. Spencer, J. A. Stansberry, M. W. Buie, J. M. Pasachoff, B. A. Babcock, T. H. McConnochie, Global warming on Triton, Nature, 393, 765-767, 1998]

Elliot uses the techniques of planetary astronomy, particularly stellar occultations, to probe planetary atmospheres and the physical properties of small bodies in the outer solar system and beyond. Of particular interest to him are Pluto, Triton, Kuiper Belt objects and extrasolar planets. He, along with Prof. Paul Schechter and others at MIT and Harvard College Observatory, have constructed a CCD camera for the Magellan telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. Professor Elliot is also working with colleagues at the Lowell Observatory to build a high-speed imaging photometer for occultations (HIPO) for NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), scheduled to become operational in early 2008.

James Elliot was born in 1943 and received his undergraduate degree from MIT in 1965 and his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1972. Before returning to MIT in 1978, he was a postdoc and faculty member in the Astronomy Department of Cornell University.

External links

* [http://web.mit.edu/physics/facultyandstaff/faculty/james_elliot.html Personal Webpage]

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