Robert S. McMillan

Robert Scott McMillan is an American astronomer and retired research professor affiliated with the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) at the University of Arizona.

He is known for his work in studying minor planets, stellar radial velocities, and astronomical instrumentation.

McMillan served as the Principal Investigator of the Spacewatch Project, a program dedicated to surveying and tracking small bodies in the solar system. He has made various discoveries, including notably 20000 Varuna. On October 19, 2008, he discovered a short-periodic comet 208P/McMillan.

Education and career McMillan earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Astronomy with High Honors from the Case Institute of Technology in June 1972.

He continued his academic career at the University of Texas at Austin, where he received a Master of Arts degree in Astronomy in 1974.

His work has contributed to improving the understanding of asteroids, comets, and other small bodies in the solar system.

He served on NASA’s Task Force for the Scientific Use of the Space Station from 1984 to 1986, and was involved in a proposal effort for an orbiting Astrometric Imaging Telescope aimed at detecting extrasolar planets, a project that spanned from 1984 to 1992.

He has been a member of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) since 1971, and is affiliated with its Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS). McMillan has also been a member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) since 1988, and the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) since 1984. He remains involved with the Spacewatch Project and participates in observational work. Stellar and Planetary Astronomy At the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, McMillan contributed to developing techniques for measuring stellar radial velocities with high precision.

His group was the first to publish stellar Doppler shift measurements with a precision better than ±20 meters per second in a refereed journal.

In 2007, McMillan collaborated on a project that utilized a prototype dispersed Fourier Transform Spectrometer with the 2.3-meter Bok Telescope to measure radial velocities of binary stars. Spacewatch Project McMillan joined the Spacewatch Project in 1980 as Co-Investigator and Project Scientist under founder Tom Gehrels. McMillan became Principal Investigator of the project in 1997. A new imaging system added to the 1.8-meter telescope 2011 increased the observation rate and improved measurement precision.

Discoveries McMillan has made several discoveries of minor bodies in the solar system. He discovered Trans-Neptunian Object (20000) Varuna in 2000 and the near-Earth asteroid 2005 YU55 in December 2005. The latter made a close approach to Earth in November 2011. In 2000, through orbital calculations by Gareth V. Williams of the Minor Planet Center, the asteroid was confirmed as Albert.

In 2008, McMillan discovered comet 208P/McMillan, a short-period comet with an orbital period of 8.1 years. The asteroid 2289 McMillan, discovered in 1960 by Cornelis Johannes van Houten, is named in his honor. Selected publications