ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - NASA has named a new mission after an astronomer who grew up in Southern Illinois.
The Landolt NASA Space Mission will put an artificial "star" in orbit around the Earth.
The mission was named for astronomer Arlo Landolt, PhD, a native of Highland, Illinois.
"His family were farmers over in the Pochantas, Highland, Illinois area just east of St. Louis," said Jennifer Landolt-Boutte, a chemistry professor at St. Louis Community College and Landolt's daughter on 'Total Information A.M.' "He was born there in 1935 and he lived there until he went away for college at 16-years-old, or 17-years-old."
Landolt is known for creating widely used catalogs of stellar brightness.
"He focused his work on photometry, which was studying the brightness of stars and any changes to the stars," said Landolt-Boutte. "He made this catalog which astronomers now use to calibrate the brightness of various celestial objects by comparing the amount of light that these objects emit compared to the amount of light he recorded for these standard stars."
"The publication of this series is probably what he's best known for."
In 2029 the NASA Landolt Space Mission is expected to launch an artificial star in orbit around the earth.
The satellite will allow scientists to calibrate telescopes and more accurately measure the brightness of stars -- even those going supernova in far-off galaxies.
