Sonia Keys (1961 – August 13, 2018), formerly known as Kyle Smalley, was an American amateur astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets. She worked as an astronomer and software developer at the Minor Planet Center. Asteroid 36445 Smalley was named after her. ^{[1] [2]}

Biography

As an electronics technician and nuclear reactor operator, she had served in the United States Navy aboard a submarine and was honorably discharged in 1982. In 1986, she completed her bachelor degree in Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Central Missouri. ^{[1] [3]}

Keys was engaged in the study of near-Earth asteroids and developed procedures to search lost asteroids. ^[4] She was a member of the Astronomical Society of Kansas City ^{[5] [6]} and most of her observations were made at their Powell Observatory in Kansas. She also worked as a consultant at the Minor Planet Center (MPC) of the International Astronomical Union. The asteroid 36445 Smalley, discovered by amateur astronomer Larry Robinson at the Sunflower Observatory ( 739) in August 2000, was named in her honor. ^[2] The official naming citation was published by the MPC on September 21, 2002 ( M.P.C. 46685). ^[7] In 2003 she won the Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. She died of cancer in Cambridge, Massachusetts on August 13, 2018. ^{[1] [3]} On 25 March 2021, the MPC credited her with the discovery of asteroid (550830) 2012 TV₂₃₃, she first observed at the Powell Observatory on 14 August 2001. ^[8]

See also

• List of minor planet discoverers § K. Smalley

References