Carl W. Hergenrother

Carl William Hergenrother (born 1973) is an American astronomer and discoverer of minor planets and comets.

As credited by the Minor Planet Center, he has discovered and co-discovered 32 numbered asteroids at the Bigelow Sky Survey during 1993–1999. He has also discovered a number of comets including the long-period comet, C/1996 R1 (Hergenrother-Spahr), and three periodic comets, 168P/Hergenrother, 175P/Hergenrother and P/1999 V1 (Catalina). He is also a member of the science and operations team of the 2016-launched OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, a sample return mission to study near-Earth asteroid 101955 Bennu.

The outer main-belt asteroid 3099 Hergenrother was named in his honor on 3 May 1996 (M.P.C. 27124).