Robert Weber (astronomer)

Minor planets discovered: 8 ^[1]
8409 Valentaugustus	28 November 1995	list
11602 Miryang	28 September 1995	list
12005 Delgiudice	19 May 1996	list
23612 Ramzel	22 January 1996	list
26906 Rubidia	22 January 1996	list
37687 Chunghikoh	30 August 1995	list
39645 Davelharris	31 August 1995	list
(285178) 1996 OZ	18 July 1996	list

Robert Weber (1926–2008) was an American astronomer and discoverer of minor planets who ran the precursor to the LINEAR project shortly before his retirement in 1996. Data were collected by manually entering telescope pointing positions and requesting an image save. Searching twenty fields was a taxing experience. They did have automatic object detection working, but no starfield matching at that time.^[2]

The inner main-belt asteroid 6181 Bobweber, discovered by Eleanor Helin at Palomar Observatory in 1986, was named in his honour on 21 March 2008. (M.P.C. 62353).^[2]^[3]

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Are we the only living thing in the entire universe? The observable universe is about 90,000,000,000 light years in diameter. There are at least 1,000,000,000 galaxies Each with 100,000,000,000 to 1,000,000,000,000 stars. Recently, we've learned that planets are very common too And there are probably trillions and trillions of habitable planets in the universe Which means there should be lot of opportunities for life to develop and exist, right? But where is it? Shouldn't the universe be teeming with spaceships? Let's take a step back. Even if there are aliens civilisations in other galaxies, there is no way we'll ever know about them. Basically, everything outside of our direct galactic neighborhood, the so called, "Local Group" is pretty much out of our reach forever, because of the expension of the universe. Even if we had really fast spaceships it would literally take billions of years to reach these places, travelling throught the emptiest areas in the universe. So, let's focus on the Milky Way. The Milky Way is our own galaxy, it consists of up to 4 hundred billions stars. That's a lot of stars, roughly 10 thousands for every grain of sand on earth. There are about 20 billions sun-like stars in the Milky Way and estimates suggest that a fivth of them have an earth-sized planet in its habitable zone, the area with conditions that enable life to exist. If only 0.1% of those planets harbored life, there would be 1 million planets with life in the Milky Way. But wait, there's more. The Milky Way is about 13 billion years old. In the beginning, it would not have been a good place for life because things exploded a lot, but after 1 to 2 billion years, the first habitable planets were born. Earth is only 4 billions years old, so there have probably been trillions of chances for life to develop on other planets in the past. If only a single one of them had developed into a space travelling super civilization we would have noticed by now. What would such a civilization look like? There are 3 categories. A Type 1 civilization would be able to access the whole energy available on its planet. In case you are wondering, we are currently around 0.73 on the scale and we should reach Type 1 sometime in the couple hundred of years. Type II would be a civilization capable of harnessing all of the energy of its home star. This would require some serious science fiction, but it is doable in principle. Concepts like the Dyson sphere, a giant complex surrounding the Sun would be conceivable. Type III is the civilization that basically controls its whole galaxy and its energy an alien race this advanced would probably be godlike to us. But why should we be able to see such an alien civilization in the first place? If we were to build generations of spaceships that could sustain a population for around one thousand years we could colonize the galaxy in 2 million years. Sounds like a long time, but remember, the Milky Way is huge. So, if it takes a couple of million years to colonize the entire galaxy and there are possibly millions if not billions of planets that sustain life in the Milky Way and these other life forms have had considerably more time than we've had, then where are all the aliens? This is the Fermi Paradox, and nobody has an answer to it But we do have some ideas. Let's talk about filters. A filter in this context represents a barrier that is really hard for life to overcome. They come in various degrees of scary. One: There are Great Filters and we've passed them. Maybe it is way harder for complex life to develop than we think. The process allowing life to begin hasn't yet been completely figured out and the conditions required may be really complicated. Maybe in the past the Universe was way more hostile, and only recently things have cooled down to make complex life possible This would also mean that we may be unique, or at least one of the first, if not the first civilization in the entire Universe. Two: There are Great Filters and they are ahead of us. This one would be really really bad. Maybe life on our level exists everywhere in the Universe but it gets destroyed when it reaches a certain point, a point that lies ahead of us. For example, awesome future technology exists, but when activated, it destroys the planet. The last words of every advanced civilization would be "This new device will solve all of our problems once I push this button." If this is true, then we are closer to the end than to the beginning of human existence. Or maybe there is an ancient Type III civilization that monitors the Universe and once a civilization is advanced enough it gets eliminated, in an instant. Maybe there is something out there that it would be better not to discover. There is no way for us to know. One final thought: maybe we are alone. Right now, we have no evidence that there's any life besides us. Nothing. The Universe appears to be empty and dead. No one sending us messages no one answering our calls. We may be completely alone, trapped on a tiny moist mud ball in an eternal Universe. Does that thought scare you? If it does, you are having the correct emotional reaction. If we let life on this planet die, perhaps there would be no life left in the Universe. Life would be gone, maybe forever. If this is the case, we just have to venture to the stars and become the first Type III civilization to keep the delicate flame of life existing and to spread it until the Universe breathes its final breath and vanishes into oblivion. The Universe is too beautiful not to be experienced by someone. This video was made posible by your support. It takes at least 100 hours to make one of our videos, and thanks to your contributions on Patreon we are slowly able to do more and more of them. If you want to help us out and get your own personal bird for example, check out the Patreon page.

Career

Weber graduated from the MIT Department of Physics in 1959,^[4] and was with the MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington for 34 years (1962–1996).^[5] He also worked on sounding rockets, and interplanetary particles and fields with the Helios, Voyager, and IMP programmes.

He led the team that developed the prototype for the Air Force GEODSS deep space satellite tracking network (the two LINEAR telescopes are GEODSS assets that were originally destined for Portugal). He is also responsible for the project that led to the development of the CCID16 CCD chip used in the LINEAR cameras, a natural consequence of earlier work in solid state physics.

Discovered minor planets

8409 Valentaugustus – Discovered 1995 November 28 by R. Weber's Team at MIT's ETS in Socorro. Valentin Augustus Weber (1867–1940) was the grandfather of the team leader. Born in Germany, he moved to the U.S.\ in 1889, where he designed and constructed stained-glass windows for cathedrals and mahogany furniture for his friends and neighbors in Brooklyn, New York.^[6]
11602 Miryang – Discovered 1995 September 28 by R. Weber's Team at MIT's ETS, Socorro. A small town in South Korea, just north of Daegu, Miryang was the birthplace of the team leader's wife, Chung-hi Koh (Helen) Weber.^[7]
12005 Delgiudice – Discovered 1996 May 19 by R. Weber's Team at MIT's ETS, Socorro. Maria del Giudice (b. 1964) is the wife of one of the team's observers and measurers, Frank Shelly.^[8]
23612 Ramzel – Discovered 1996 January 22 by R. Weber's Team at MIT's ETS, Socorro. Allen Lee Ramzel (b. 1960) was an observer and systems engineer for the team that discovered this object. This minor planet also honors his family.^[9]
26906 Rubidia – Discovered 1996 January 22 by R. Weber at the MIT's ETS in Socorro. Rubidia (Ruby) Mendez-Harris (b. 1945) is the wife of David L. Harris, a member of the team that discovered this object. Born in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, she was educated as a psychologist and still practices therapy and counseling in Socorro. This name was suggested by D. L. Harris in 1998.^[10]
37687 Chunghikoh – Named after R. Weber's wife. Chung-hi (Helen) Koh was the mother of seven children, a registered pharmacist, a volunteer nurse's aid and a kind hearted soul. More information coming.^[11]
39645 Davelharris – Named after a good friend and member of R. Weber's team. David Lowell Harris was the beloved husband of Ruby Mendez Harris and an enthusiastic member of R. Weber's team. More information coming.^[12]

Publications by Robert Weber

Confirmation of the following publications can be found at the following websites:

(1959) The resonant-frequency shift of a microwave cavity caused by the high-density plasma in semiconductors, as a function of magnetic field. Physics. Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Science Doctorate.
(1961) Robert Weber & P.E. Tannenwald, "Exchange Integral in Cobalt from Spin-Wave Resonance." The Physical Review 121(3): 715.
(1963) Tannenwald, P. E. & Robert Weber, "Second-Order Exchange Interactions from Spin Wave Resonance." The Journal of Physics and Chemistry Solids 24: 1357-1361.
(1964) "Ultrasonic Measurements in Normal and Superconducting Niobium." The Physical Review 133(6A): A1487-A1492.
(1965) Tannenwald, P. E. & Robert Weber, "Long-Range Exchange Interactions from Spin-Wave Resonance." The Physical Review 140(2A): A498-A506.
(1966) Robert Weber & P.E. Tannenwald, "Temperature Variation of the Spin-Wave Dispersion Relation." Journal of Applied Physics 37(3): 1058-1059.
(1966) "Comparative Data on CdS Transducers from 14 Mc/s to 70 Gc/s." Proceedings of the IEEE 54(2): 333-334.
(1966) "Electron Bombardment Technique for Deposition of CdS Film Transducers." The Review of Scientific Instruments 37(7): 955-956.
(1969) Robert Weber &. M. H. S., "Nuclear Linewidth Measurements of 55Mn In Antiferromagnetic CsMnF3 and RbMnF3." Solid State Communications 7: 619-622.
(1968) Tannenwald, P. E. & Robert Weber, "Comments on Standing Spin-Wave Resonance in 'Flash-Evaporated' Permally Films." Physical Review Letters 20(17): 918-919.
(1968) "Magnon-Phonon Coupling in Metallic Films." The Physical Review 169(2): 451-456.
(1968) "Observation of Magnetoelastic Coupling by Spin-Wave Resonance." Journal of Applied Physics 39(2 (Part I)): 491.
(1968) "Spin-Wave Resonance." IEEE Transactions on Magnetics Mag-4(1): 28-31.
(1970) Robert Weber, P.E Tannenwald and C.H Bajorek, "Intensities of Spin-Wave Resonand Modes in Thin Films." Applied Physics Letters 16(1): 35-37.
(1971) MSFN/DSN Integration Program for the DSS 11 26-m Antenna Prototype Station. The Deep Space Network Progress Report, TR 32-1526, March and April 1971. MIT: 197-202.
(1974) Robert Weber & T.H. Brooks. The limits of detectability of a low-light-level point-source sensor as a function of telescope aperture, sensor resolution, night-sky background, and pre-readout electron gain. MIT.
(1974) Visual Magnitude Flux Rate Density Standards for Sunlight Incident on Photoemissive Surfaces. MIT.
(1976) The detection capabilities of gallium arsenide and s-20 photo multiplier tubes to go-type, point source, signals. MIT.
(1976) Nominal event support: The observation of synchronous satellite number 83594 by GEODSS on days 181,182,183 and 184 1976 (UTC). MIT.
(1976) Predicted and measured detection capabilities of the Lincoln ETS, photon-noise-limited, elector-optical systems. MIT.
(1977) The amplitude effect of point-source blooming as a function of background level in ebsicon-type camera tubes. MIT.
(1977) Field-Testing and Evaluation of the TRW Streak MTI System. MIT.
(1977) Photoemissive and electroemissive surfaces and sandwiches. MIT.
(1978) The ground-based electro-optical detection of deep-space satellites. Applications of electronic imaging systems; Proceedings of the Seminar, Washington, D.C., March 30, 31, 1978 (A79-17202 05-35) Bellingham, Washington, Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers: 59-69.
(1978) Limiting point-source detection capabilities of two-dimensional, scanned, optical detector arrays in constant false-alarm systems. MIT.
(1978) The passive, ground-based, electro-optical detection of synchronous satellites. MIT.
(1979) Large-format Ebsicon for low-light-level satellite surveillance. Recent Advances in TV Sensors and Systems. San Diego, California, Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.
(1979) "Passive ground-based electro-optical detection of artificial earth satellites." Optical Engineering 18(1): 82-91.
(1979) Updated 2005. Some Field Test Results - Teal Amber CCD Sensor, MIT.
(1981) "Large-Format Ebiscon for Low Light Level Satellite Surveillance." Optical Engineering 20(2): 212-215.
(1983) Optical detection loss due to air-borne salts on Diego Garcia. MIT.
(1983) Perturbations on the reception characteristics of antennas on Diego Garcia due to the presence of a GEODSS site. MIT.
(1985) Dwell-in-Dell Detection - Design and Performance Implications, MIT.
(1992) The Transportable Optical System (TOS): A Comprehensive Overview, MIT.
Robert Weber should not be confused with the Technical University of Vienna's Robert Weber, or the U.S. Court of International Trade's Robert Weber.

References

^ "Minor Planet Discoverers (by number)". Minor Planet Center. 4 September 2016. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
^ ^a ^b "6181 Bobweber (1986 RW)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
^ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
^ "404 error: File not found" (PDF). {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
^ "MIT's record-size retirement 'Class of 1996'".
^ "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 8409 Valentaugustus (1995 WB43)" (2016-05-30 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
^ "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 11602 Miryang (1995 ST54)" (2016-06-13 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
^ "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 12005 Delgiudice (1996 KA3)" (2015-12-14 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
^ "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 23612 Ramzel (1996 BJ4)" (2015-07-17 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
^ "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 26906 Rubidia (1996 BH4)" (2016-03-19 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
^ "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 37687 Chunghikoh (1995 QB10)" (2016-08-11 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
^ "JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 39645 Davelharris (1995 QC10)" (2016-01-13 last obs.). Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 26 September 2016.