Introduction
Dirk Terrell (born August 14, 1965) is an American astronomer and space artist who is the manager of the Astronomy and Computer Systems section in the Department of Space Studies of the Space Science and Engineering division of the Southwest Research Institute. He is a Fellow and former President of the International Association of Astronomical Artists.
Career
In 2013, he was a member of a team of scientists that discovered and characterized the extrasolar planet Kepler-64b, a.k.a. PH1, the first planet discovered in a quadruple star system. He showed that suspected transits in the Kepler Space Telescope data of the system were indeed due to a planet transiting the eclipsing binary in the system. In 2014, he helped discover and characterize planets in three additional stellar systems, including Kepler-88 and Kepler-247.
Awards and honors
Asteroid 79912 Terrell is named in his honor.