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Michael J. S. Belton (September 29, 1934 – June 4, 2018) was President of Belton Space Exploration Initiatives and Emeritus Astronomer at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. Belton served as the Chair of the 2002 Planetary Science Decadal Survey guiding NASA and other US Government Agencies plans for solar system exploration. Belton studied first at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and earned his PhD at the University of California at Berkeley for his doctoral thesis on "The Interaction of Type II Comet Tails with the Interplanetary Medium".

Belton was born in Bognor Regis, England. He led the Galileo Imaging Science Team in high-resolution imaging studies of Venus, Jupiter, Jupiter's moons Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, Earth's Moon as well as asteroids Ida, Gaspra, and Dactyl. The team also studied the collision of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter.

Honors

• Gerard P. Kuiper Prize in Planetary Science, 1995
• minor planet 3498 Belton has been named for him
• Plutonian feature Belton Regio has been named for him

References

1. "Michael J. Belton (1934 - 2018) - Obituary Needed | American Astronomical Society". Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2018-06-07.
2. "Michael J. S. Belton (1934-2018)". 5 June 2018.
3. New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy. Washington, DC: National Research Council. 2003. pp. iv. ISBN 0-309-55902-2.
4. ^ "Michael Belton Bio". Belton Space Exploration. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2011-03-15.
5. American Men & Women of Science: A-B. R.R. Bowker. 2003. ISBN 9780787665241.
6. "Gerard P. Kuiper Prize in Planetary Sciences". American Astronomical Society.
7. Schmadel, Lutz D. (August 2003). Dictionary of minor planet names, Volume 1. Springer. p. 298. ISBN 3-540-00238-3.
8. "Two Names Approved for Pluto: Belton Regio and Safronov Regio | USGS Astrogeology Science Center". astrogeology.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2023-09-27.

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• 1934 births
• 2018 deaths
• 20th-century American astronomers
• 21st-century American astronomers
• People from Bognor Regis
• English emigrants to the United States
• Alumni of the University of St Andrews
• American planetary scientists
• University of California, Berkeley alumni
• American astronomer stubs