Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers

Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers (/ˈoʊlbərz/; October 11, 1758 – March 2, 1840) was a German physician and astronomer.

Life and career

Olbers was born in Arbergen, today part of Bremen, and studied to be a physician at Göttingen (1777–80). While he was at Göttingen, he studied mathematics with Abraham Gotthelf Kästner. In 1779, while attending to a sick fellow student, he devised a method of calculating cometary orbits which made an epoch in the treatment of the subject. It was the first satisfactory method of calculating cometary orbits. After his graduation in 1780, he began practicing medicine in Bremen. At night he dedicated his time to astronomical observation, making the upper story of his home into an observatory.

On March 28, 1802, Olbers discovered and named the asteroid Pallas. Five years later, on March 29, 1807, he discovered the asteroid Vesta, which he allowed Carl Friedrich Gauss to name. As the word "asteroid" was not yet coined, the literature of the time referred to these minor planets as planets in their own right. He proposed that the asteroid belt, where these objects lay, was the remnants of a planet that had been destroyed. The current view of most scientists is that tidal effects from the planet Jupiter disrupted the planet-formation process in the asteroid belt. On March 6, 1815, Olbers discovered a periodic comet, now named after him (formally designated 13P/Olbers). Olbers' paradox, described by him in 1823 (and then reformulated in 1826), states that the darkness of the night sky conflicts with the supposition of an infinite and eternal static universe.

Olbers (disambiguation)

Olbers (crater)

Olbers is a lunar crater that lies at the west edge of the Oceanus Procellarum, near the western limb of the Moon. It lies to the northwest of the crater Hevelius, and to the north of the indistinct Hedin. Farther to the south is the crater Riccioli. Due to its location, this crater appears very oblong because of foreshortening. It is viewed nearly edge-on, making observation of the interior difficult from the Earth.

The rim of Olbers is somewhat worn, with notches to the north, east, and south. The interior floor is relatively flat, especially toward the eastern rim, and is not marked by notable craterlets. The floor is covered by ray material and ejecta from the adjacent Glushko.

Satellite craters

By convention these features are identified on lunar maps by placing the letter on the side of the crater midpoint that is closest to Olbers.

The following craters have been renamed by the IAU:

References