Name: Lucy McFadden
Hometown: Bethesda, MD
Position: Astronomer
Favorite Celestial Object: Minor Planet (asteroid) 3066 McFadden, because it was named after me in honor of my contributions to solar system research.

Why did I become an astronomer? That's a difficult question. Since I was a child, I was always fascinated with natural phenomena, trees, flowers and nature in general. As a child I wanted to be a lepidopterist (study butterflies) and travel all over the world doing so. I always liked math and science courses, and when I got to college, I took a course on astronomy because I didn't know anything about it. I suppose I could say that I became an astronomer because I found I enjoyed studying it. I then learned (and continue to learn) how to conduct research, to explore and organize new information sharing it with the rest of the world. There is a part of me, the rebel in me, that lead me to a scientific profession because where I grew up everyone was in business, and by the time I grew up, I was sick of business, business, business.

What do you continue to study?
My research today focuses on understanding the steps which went into the formation of our solar system. How did it get the way it is today? Most often I approach this question through studying small solar system objects, asteroids and comets trying to determine what materials they are made of. I am a science team member of NASA's Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission to asteroid 433 Eros, which will get to Eros in 1999 and spend a year orbiting the asteroid collecting data for scientific analysis.

What difficulties have you encountered? Sometimes my research problems don't have solutions. Sometimes I can't figure out the answer, sometimes I pose the wrong question. I hope I don't sound flippant, but overcoming difficulties is a part of life. There are difficulties of a social nature too. Sometimes my friends think I'm wierd because I am a scientist and they don't understand. Sometimes my colleagues don't listen to me. Sometimes I don't listen to myself or to them.

Which astronomer inspired you most? A man named Gene Shoemaker has been very inspirational to me. He started out as a sedimentary geologist (basically, one who studies mud). He had an opportunity to look at pictures from the Moon and made arguments that the circular features on the Moon were the results of impacts, lots of them that were formed just as the planets in the solar system were forming. He then studied circular features on Earth and after many years of careful, detailed description, geochemical measurements and analysis, he and his colleagues convinced us that the features are remnant craters from extraterrestrial objects hitting Earth. He then decided to study the bodies that hit Earth, so he started a program to search for asteroids that come close to Earth, and he and his wife started a telescopic program searching for near-Earth asteroids. I am inspired by Shoemaker's combining geology and astronomy and hope to contribute significant knowledge to the world while learning many different things myself. Many others have inspired me throughout my life, including many teachers.

What have been some of your most exciting observations? I guess I was lucky that my thesis work was very exciting. I conducted the first survey of the spectral properties of near-Earth asteroids from which we derive knowledge of their mineralogical composition. By comparing this with meteorites and other asteroids, we can get some idea of where these planet-crossing asteroids originated. Did they come from the asteroid belt? other planets? or are they the residual cores of once active (now dead) comets?

I also had fun working on studies of Halley's comet in which we learned that there are discrete vents of activity on the surface and that a comet isn't active uniformly across its surface. It was fun finding something unexpected, and also gratifying that many other people found the same thing, so we are pretty sure that we have interpreted the data correctly.

I also had a chance to observe Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 before it collided with Jupiter in August, 1994. Watching the collision was awesome.

Which telescope location do you prefer and why? I was trained at Mauna Kea Observatories on the island of Hawaii. It is at a very high altitude, 14,000 ft (4267 m) and the atmosphere is often very steady, and there is not much water vapor above in the sky. I guess I am spoiled, because I have observed at many other locations and they are not as good in those respects.

Which school subjects are key for a future astronomer?
Math and Writing and team work.

Math because we deal with numbers, very big ones and very small ones, we do lots of calculations (estimates) in our head as well as with computers. Math is an essential tool that an astronomer uses.
Writing because a scientist has a responsibility to communicate her results. There is no point in doing the research if it is not shared with the scientific community and the public.

Today most of science is conducted in teams, so if not everyone is expert in all areas, then it is important to be sure that the team is complete. Everyone needs to be recognized for their contributions.

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