Sébastien Charnoz Explained

Pr. Sébastien Charnoz (born 1974) is a planetary scientist who studies planetary dynamics at the Université Paris Cité and Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris. He also works for the CEA (Center for Atomic Energy) in France.

His work covers problems relating to collisional dynamics such as the physics of planetary rings and the formation of the Solar System. He specializes in numerical simulations. Along with André Brahic (Professor at Université Paris 7) he is involved in the imaging team of the Cassini mission, led by Carolyn Porco. Using numerical code he wrote for automatic satellite detection (among hundreds of images provided by the ISS camera system), he helped the Imaging Team discover the two smallest known moons of the Saturn system in 2004^{[1] ,[2] ,[3] ,}:^[4] Methone and Pallene.

External links

• Homepage of Sébastien Charnoz
• NASA press release describing the discovery of the two satellites methone and Pallene

Notes and References

1. The official attribution for sightings of new moons or rings made by the Cassini imaging scientists in Cassini images goes to the Cassini Imaging Team. This is sanctioned by the International Astronomical Union. The IAU Circulars are the official announcement of these discoveries, with the authorship 'C.C.Porco and the Cassini Imaging Team'.
2. http://cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iauc/08300/08389.html#Item1 C.C. Porco, et al., IAUC 8389 - discovery of S/2004 S 1 (Methone) and S/2004 S 2 (Pallene)
3. http://cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iauc/08400/08471.html IAUC 8471 - naming of Methone and Pallene
4. C. C. Porco et al. (2005), Cassini Imaging Science: Initial Results on Saturn's Rings and Small Satellites. Science 307 (5713): 1226-1236.