astronomy

Megan Schwamb

Megan Schwamb 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 Megan Schwamb rather than just read about it. In short: Megan E. Schwamb (born 1984) is an American astronomer and planetary scientist, and lecturer at Queen's University, Belfast.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Megan E. Schwamb (born 1984) is an American astronomer and planetary scientist, and lecturer at Queen's University, Belfast. Schwamb has discovered and co-discovered several trans-Neptunian objects, and is involved with Citizen science projects such as Planet Four and Planet Hunters.

Biography In 2006, Schwamb graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. summa cum laude with Distinction in physics. She went on to study astrophysics in the California Institute of Technology, graduated Master of Science in 2008. Schwamb finished her Ph.D. in planetary science in 2011, also from the California Institute of Technology. Her thesis was researching "Beyond Sedna: Probing the Distant Solar System", and her advisor was Michael Brown. Between 2010 and 2013, Schwamb was a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University. She worked at the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Academia Sinica in Taipei in Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2013 until 2016. Schwamb then held the post of assistant scientist at the Gemini Observatory, before moving to Queen's University, Belfast. She is the creator and co-founder of Astrotweeps, a Rotation Curation account on astronomy. Schwamb is involved in citizen science projects. She is a founding science team member for Planet Four, a project intended for mapping seasonal fans on the South Pole of Mars. She is also part of the science team leading Planet Hunters, a project in which users analyze data from the NASA Kepler Space Mission while searching for exoplanets.

Awards and honors In 2017 she received a Carl Sagan Medal for excellence in public communication, for the creation of the Astrotweeps and Planet Four projects. On April 13, 2017, asteroid 11814 Schwamb, discovered by Schelte Bus at the Siding Spring Observatory in 1981, was named in her honor (M.P.C. 103979).

Research discoveries She specialized in studying sednoids, and co-discovered several trans-Neptunian objects.

List of discovered minor planets

Megan Schwamb is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery and co-discovery of 16 minor planets during 2007–2010 (see list). In addition to the confirmed discoveries, she also participated in the first observations of the unnumbered objects 2008 ST291, 2012 HG84 and 2012 KU50.

References

External links Official website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Megan Schwamb

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Megan Schwamb 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 Megan Schwamb 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 Megan Schwamb 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 Megan Schwamb

In research: Megan Schwamb 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 Megan Schwamb 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: Megan Schwamb is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1984 births, 21st-century American astronomers, 21st-century American women scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Megan Schwamb 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 Megan Schwamb in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Megan Schwamb 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 Megan Schwamb out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Megan Schwamb in simple terms?

Megan E. Schwamb (born 1984) is an American astronomer and planetary scientist, and lecturer at Queen's University, Belfast.

Why does Megan Schwamb 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 Megan Schwamb?

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 Megan Schwamb.