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Duncan I. Steel (born 1955) is a British space scientist. He has discovered several minor planets and has written four popular science books. He is a member of the International Astronomical Union, and has worked at the Xerra Earth Observation Institute in Nelson, in the South Island of New Zealand. He was formerly on the staff of the University of Salford in the United Kingdom. Steel completed a PhD at the University of Canterbury in 1984 with a thesis on the orbital characteristics of meteoroids.

Between 1990 and 1994 he discovered twelve numbered minor planets. The asteroid 4713 Steel, discovered by Robert McNaught in 1989, is named after him.

In August 2022 Steel pleaded guilty to burglary and breaching the New Zealand Harmful Digital Communications Act. He was sentenced to 12 months' house arrest and ordered to pay $3000 in reparation for emotional harm.

Books

• Rogue Asteroids and Doomsday Comets: The Search for the Million Megaton Menace That Threatens Life on Earth. New York: Wiley. 1995. ISBN 0-471-30824-2. (with a foreword by Arthur C. Clarke).
• Target earth. Pleasantville, N.Y.: Reader's Digest Association. 2000. ISBN 0-7621-0298-5. (with an afterword by Arthur C. Clarke).
• Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar. New York: Wiley. 2000. ISBN 0-4712-9827-1.
• Eclipse: The Celestial Phenomenon That Changed the Course of History. Washington D.C.: Joseph Henry Press. 2001. ISBN 0-309-07438-X. (with a foreword by Paul Davies).

References

1. Lovett, Richard A. (2 May 2019). "Earth hit by 17 meteors a day". Cosmos magazine. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
2. "IAU Individual Members: Duncan I. Steel". International Astronomical Union. 20 November 2023. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
3. Mandow, Rami (6 November 2019). "NZ Government funding $26M satellite to track global methane sources". spaceaustralia.com. Retrieved 18 April 2024.
4. "Starboard: Science team". Starboard.nz. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
5. Steel, Duncan (1984). Orbital characteristics of meteoroids (Doctoral thesis). UC Research Repository, University of Canterbury. doi:10.26021/8834. hdl:10092/13328.
6. ^ "Minor Planet Discoverers". Minor Planet Center. 12 April 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
7. "Minor Planet Circular 17982" (PDF). Minor Planet Center. 30 March 1991. p. 130. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
8. "4713 Steel". JPL Small-Body Database. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. SPK-ID: 4713. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
9. Neal, Tracy (11 August 2022). "Space scientist Duncan Steel given home detention for campaign to humiliate woman he knew". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
10. Ridout, Amy (11 August 2022). "Space scientist sent woman's private details to colleagues and family, broke into her home". Stuff.co.NZ. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
11. "Astronomy Book Reviews". SkyNews. 20 April 2013. Archived from the original on 26 January 2024. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
12. Hannah, Robert (2000). "Review: Duncan Steel, Marking Time: The Epic Quest to Invent the Perfect Calendar". Material Culture Review. 52.

External links

• Official website

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• British astronomer stubs
• 20th-century British astronomers
• 21st-century British astronomers
• Academics of the University of Salford
• Discoverers of asteroids
• Discoveries by Duncan Steel
• Living people
• 1955 births