Claudine Rinner facts for kids

Claudine Rinner, born in 1965, is a French astronomer who loves to study space. She lives in a town called Ottmarsheim in France. Claudine is known for finding many minor planets and comets. She even won a special award called the Edgar Wilson Award for her amazing discoveries! She has discovered over 100 minor planets.

Discovering Space Objects

Claudine Rinner is an amateur astronomer. This means she studies space as a hobby, not as her main job. She works at the Ottmarsheim Observatory in France. An observatory is a special place with telescopes to look at the stars and planets.

How She Finds Comets

Claudine helped with a project called the Morocco Oukaimeden Sky Survey (MOSS). This project uses a special robotic telescope in Morocco. A robotic telescope can be controlled from far away, like from Claudine's home!

Using this telescope, Claudine discovered three comets. Comets are like giant snowballs made of ice and dust that orbit the Sun. When they get close to the Sun, they warm up and release gas and dust, forming a bright tail.

Winning an Award

In 2013, Claudine Rinner won the Edgar Wilson Award. This award is given to amateur astronomers who discover new comets. She won it for finding three comets: 373P/Rinner, C/2012 CH₁₇, and 281P/MOSS. It was a big achievement!

Finding Minor Planets

Besides comets, Claudine has also discovered more than 100 minor planets since 2004. Minor planets are small rocky objects that orbit the Sun, usually found between Mars and Jupiter. They are also called asteroids. Some of her discoveries were made with another astronomer named François Kugel.

Awards and Special Recognition

Claudine Rinner has received several honors for her contributions to astronomy.

An Asteroid Named After Her

Imagine having a space object named after you! An asteroid called 23999 Rinner was named in Claudine's honor. It was discovered by another French astronomer, Laurent Bernasconi, in 1999. The official naming was announced in 2005. This is a very special way to recognize her hard work and discoveries.

Another Prestigious Prize

In 2020, Claudine Rinner and another astronomer, Michel Ory, together received the Dorothea Klumpke – Isaac Roberts prize. This award comes from the Société astronomique de France, which is a big astronomy society in France. It shows how much her work is valued in the world of astronomy.

See also

In Spanish: Claudine Rinner para niños