astronomy

Hans-Emil Schuster

Hans-Emil Schuster is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hans-Emil Schuster rather than just read about it. In short: Hans-Emil Schuster (19 September 1934 – 20 December 2024) was a German astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets and comets, who retired in October 1991. He worked at Hamburg Observatory at Bergedorf and European Southern Observatory (ESO), and was a former acting director of La Silla Observatory.

Key takeaways

Hans-Emil Schuster belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hans-Emil Schuster to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hans-Emil Schuster from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Hans-Emil Schuster (19 September 1934 – 20 December 2024) was a German astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets and comets, who retired in October 1991. He worked at Hamburg Observatory at Bergedorf and European Southern Observatory (ESO), and was a former acting director of La Silla Observatory. From 1982, he was married to Rosemarie Schuster née von Holt (28 March 1935 – 18 September 2006) He discovered periodic comet 106P/Schuster. He also discovered the comet C/1976 D2 (in the contemporary nomenclature, it was known as Comet 1975 II or 1976c), which was notable for its large perihelion distance of 6.88 AU [1] [2], the largest yet observed at the time. He discovered 25 asteroids, including notably the Apollo asteroid 2329 Orthos and the Amor asteroids 2608 Seneca, 3271 Ul, 3288 Seleucus, and 3908 Nyx. He discovered the near-Earth asteroid 161989 Cacus, which was lost and not recovered until 2003. Schuster participated in the exploration, selection and testing of the sites of two ESO observatories: La Silla Observatory and Paranal Observatory (the latter is the VLT site). He also participated in two ESO Southern Sky Surveys: the ESO-B survey ("Quick-Blue Survey") completed in 1978 was the first deep optical survey of the southern sky, and the "Red Sky Survey". Photographic plates were taken with the ESO's 1-meter Schmidt Telescope at La Silla. He co-discovered the Phoenix Dwarf galaxy (with Richard M. West), and in 1976 also discovered the Eridanus Globular Cluster, one of the most distant globular clusters in the galactic halo. In 1980, he discovered a type-II supernova in the galaxy NGC 1255. However, "Schuster's Spiral" (Horologium Dwarf) is not named after him, but a different Schuster. Schuster died on 20 December 2024, at the age of 90.

Honours The asteroid 2018 Schuster was named in his honour. On 21 October 2011, he was awarded the rank of Commander of the Order of Bernardo O'Higgins in recognition of his important contribution to astronomy in Chile.

List of discovered minor planets

See also List of minor planet discoverers § Discovering astronomers

References

External links The ESO/Uppsala Survey of the ESO(B) Atlas Archived 2013-11-11 at the Wayback Machine 106P/Schuster, cometography.com Phoenix Dwarf, Spider's Homepage

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hans-Emil Schuster

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hans-Emil Schuster claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hans-Emil Schuster before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hans-Emil Schuster ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hans-Emil Schuster

In research: Hans-Emil Schuster appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hans-Emil Schuster in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hans-Emil Schuster is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1934 births, 2024 deaths, 20th-century German astronomers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hans-Emil Schuster outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hans-Emil Schuster in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hans-Emil Schuster means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hans-Emil Schuster out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hans-Emil Schuster in simple terms?

Why does Hans-Emil Schuster matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hans-Emil Schuster?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hans-Emil Schuster.