astronomy

Roy A. Tucker

Roy A. Tucker 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 Roy A. Tucker rather than just read about it. In short: Roy Anthony Tucker (December 11, 1951 – March 5, 2021) was an American astronomer best known for the co-discovery of near-Earth asteroid 99942 Apophis (formerly known as 2004 MN4) along with David J. Tholen and Fabrizio Bernardi of the University of Hawaiʻi.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Roy Anthony Tucker (December 11, 1951 – March 5, 2021) was an American astronomer best known for the co-discovery of near-Earth asteroid 99942 Apophis (formerly known as 2004 MN4) along with David J. Tholen and Fabrizio Bernardi of the University of Hawaiʻi. He was a prolific discoverer of minor planets, credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of 702 numbered minor planets between 1996 and 2010. He also discovered two comets: 328P/LONEOS–Tucker and C/2004 Q1, a Jupiter-family and near-parabolic comet, respectively.

Biography Tucker was born in Jackson, Mississippi and raised in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1966, he became a member of Memphis Astronomical Society and received a master's degree in Scientific Instrumentation from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He worked as a senior engineer in the Imaging Technology Laboratory of the University of Arizona and as an instrumentalist at Kitt Peak National Observatory. He observed and discovered minor planets at his private Goodricke-Pigott Observatory in southern Arizona.

Death Tucker died on March 5, 2021, due to pancreatic cancer.

Recognition In 2002, he was one of five researchers awarded a "Gene Shoemaker Near Earth Object Grant", by the Planetary Society. The main-belt asteroid 10914 Tucker, discovered by Paul Comba in 1997, was named in his honor.

List of discovered minor planets

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Roy A. Tucker

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Roy A. Tucker 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 Roy A. Tucker 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 Roy A. Tucker 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 Roy A. Tucker

In research: Roy A. Tucker 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 Roy A. Tucker 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: Roy A. Tucker is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1951 births, 2021 deaths, American astronomers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Roy A. Tucker 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 Roy A. Tucker in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Roy A. Tucker in simple terms?

Why does Roy A. Tucker 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 Roy A. Tucker?

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 Roy A. Tucker.