Carl D. Murray facts for kids
Carl Desmond Murray (born in September 1955) is an Irish expert in mathematics and astronomy. He is a retired professor from Queen Mary University of London. He studies planets and is a world expert on the amazing rings of Saturn. Carl Murray also wrote an important textbook about how things move in our Solar System, along with Stanley Dermott.
Learning and Career
Carl Murray was born in September 1955 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He grew up there and in Newcastle, County Down. He studied Applied Mathematics and Astrophysics at Queen Mary College in London. He finished his first degree with top honors in 1977. In 1980, he earned his Ph.D. from the same university. His Ph.D. research was about how tiny particles move in the Solar System.
He has spent his entire career working at Queen Mary College, which is now called Queen Mary University of London. Since 1995, he has also been a visiting professor at the University of Florida in the Department of Astronomy.
Professor Murray is interested in everything about how objects move in the Solar System. This includes tiny dust particles and even big planets. Since 1990, he has been a key member of the Cassini Imaging Team. He was the only person from the United Kingdom on this team. He has studied the complex movements of Saturn's rings, especially the mysterious F-ring. He also looks at how the rings and nearby moons pull on each other with gravity.
In 2007, Carl Murray led a team of astronomers from the European Space Agency. They used the Cassini Space Probe to discover a new moon of Saturn. This was Saturn's 60th known moon!
Books He Wrote
Carl Murray has written several important books about space and how things move in the Solar System:
- Planetary Ring Systems: Properties, Structure, and Evolution (2018), with Matthew S. Tiscareno. This book is about the rings around planets.
- Solar System Dynamics (2010), with Stanley F. Dermott. This book explains how objects move in our Solar System.
- Atlas of the Planar, Circular, Restricted Three-Body Problem (1994), with Othon C. Winter.
- Expansion of the Planetary Disturbing Function of Eighth Ord (1993), with David Harper.
Awards and Special Recognitions
Carl Murray has received many honors for his work:
- He became a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1980. This means he is a respected member of a group of top astronomers.
- He joined the International Astronomical Union in 1985. This is a group of astronomers from all over the world.
- He became a member of the American Astronomical Society in 1990.
- He became a member of the American Geophysical Union in 2013.
An asteroid was even named after him! It is called (5598) Carlmurray.
