Jana Chesley

Address:

4800 Oak Grove Drive

Pasadena, CA 91109

Curriculum Vitae:

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Member of:

Small Bodies

Biography

I am from Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. During grad school, I spent two years working on my Ph.D. thesis at the European Southern Observatory in Germany. After that I went to the Institute for Astronomy in Hawaii, first in a postdoctoral position and then continuing as a research scientist for 13 years. Much of my effort in Hawaii focused ground-based support observations, especially photometric analysis, for three cometary space missions: Stardust, Deep Impact and Stardust-NExT. I moved to California after getting married in 2011 and I started working at JPL in 2013 supporting the NEOWISE mission and conducting follow-up observations of NEOs at JPL’s Table Mountain Observatory. I am married to Steve Chesley, also of JPL, and we have two amazing daughters, born in 2014 and 2015. Swimming and skiing are my passion since childhood and I am a member of the Rose Bowl Masters swim team. When I am not observing, I love to spend time with my family, going for a hike with our dog Komet, reading and baking.

Education

Ph.D. - Astronomy & Astrophysics, Comenius University, 1999
M.A. - Physics, Comenius University, 1995

Professional Experience

Astronomy observations, data reductions and photometry analyses.

Research Interests

Astrometry and Photometry of Asteroids and Comets.
Ground-based Mission Support and data reduction.

Selected Awards

2020- JPL Voyager Award for leading work on commissioning the TMO 1-m telescope for scientific investigations.
2005 - Asteroid 20187 Janapittichová named in honor of scientific and sport achievements.

Selected Publications

Masiero, Joseph R., Mainzer, A. K., Bauer, J. M., Cutri, R. M., Grav, T., Kramer, E., Pittichová, J., Sonnett, S., Wright, E. L., 2020: “Asteroid Diameters and Albedos from NEOWISE Reactivation Mission Years Four and Five”: PSJ 1, 1, 10
Lowry, S. C., Weissman, P. R., Duddy, S. R., Rozitis, B., Fitzsimmons, A., Green, S. F., Hicks, M. D., Snodgrass, C., Wolters, S. D., Chesley, S. R., Pittichová, J., and van Oers, P., 2014: “The internal structure of asteroid (25143) Itokawa as revealed by detection of YORP spin-up”: A&A 562, A48, 9.
Chesley, S. R., Belton, M. J. S., Carcich, B., Thomas, P. C., Pittichová, J., et. al., 2013: “An updated rotation model for Comet 9P/Tempel 1”: Icarus 222, 2, 516-525.
Meech, K. J., A’Hearn, M. F., Adams, J. A., et. al., 2011: “EPOXI: Comet 103P/Hartley 2 Observations from a Worldwide Campaign”: ApJL 734, 1, L1.
Hsieh, Henry H., Meech, Karen J., Pittichová, J., 2011: “Main-belt Comet 238P/Read Revis- ited”: ApJL 736, 1, L18.
Pittichová, J., Kelley, M. S., Woodward, C. E., Meech, K. J., 2009: “Imaging of Comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner”, in Bioastronomy 2007: Molecules, Microbes and Extraterrestrial Life, ASP Conference Series, Vol. 420, Eds. K. J. Meech, J. V. Keane, M. J. Mumma, J. L. Siefert, and D. J. Werthimer, San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 2009., p.103.
Meech, K. J., Ageorges, N., A’Hearn, M. F., et. al., 2005: “Deep Impact: Observations from a Worldwide Earth-Based Campaign”: Science 310, 5746, 265-269.
Bauer, J. M., Meech, K. J., Fernández, Y. R., Pittichová, J., Delsanti, A. C., Boehnhardt, H. and Hainaut, O. R., 2003 “Physical Survey of 24 Centaurs with Visible Photometry”: Icarus 166, 195–211.
Pittichová, J. and Meech, K. J., 2003: “Physical Properties of Comet 81P Wild,” in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Conference “Comets, Asteroids, Meteors, Meteorites, Astroblemes, Craters,” Ed. K.I. Churyumov, Vinnytsia, 52-59.

Projects

NEOWISE