View source for Steven Kilston

'''Steven D. Kilston''' (born 1944) is an American astronomer.

Kilston received a [[B.A.]] from [[Harvard University]] in 1965 and a [[Ph.D.]] from [[UCLA]] in 1973.<ref>{{cite web |title=Steve Kilston |url=http://mstars.seti.org/pages/Kilston1.html |publisher=[[SETI Institute]] |access-date=15 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609043214/http://mstars.seti.org/pages/Kilston1.html |archive-date=9 June 2008}}</ref> He was [[Carl Sagan]]'s first undergraduate research student at Harvard, co-authoring "A Search for Life on Earth at Kilometer Resolution".<ref name=coseti>{{cite web |title=Next-Generation Space Telescope (NGST) & Space-Based Optical SETI |url=http://www.coseti.org/4273-20.htm |publisher=Columbus Optical SETI Observatory |access-date=15 June 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Wood |first1=Elizabeth A. |author-link=Elizabeth A. Wood|title=Science from Your Airplane Window |date=1975 |publisher=[[Courier Corporation]] |page=183 |isbn=978-0-486-23205-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S96s2HD0FJgC&pg=PA183 |access-date=15 June 2024}}</ref> Kilston worked for the [[Hughes Aircraft Company]], the [[Lockheed Corporation]], and [[Ball Aerospace]]. He was the principal designer of the [[Ikonos]] satellite.<ref name=coseti /><ref>{{cite web |title=All About Eclipses with Steve Kilston |url=https://www.cottagegroveor.gov/library/page/all-about-eclipses-steve-kilston |publisher=[[Cottage Grove, Oregon|City of Cottage Grove, Oregon]] |access-date=15 June 2024}}</ref>

In 1966, he discovered the Comet Kilston at [[Lick Observatory]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=P. L. |title=Observations of new Comet Kilston 1966b. |journal=The Astronomer |date=1966 |volume=3 |page=D5 |bibcode=1966Astr....3D...5B |url=https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1966Astr....3D...5B |access-date=15 June 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Kramer |first1=Joel R. |title=Recent Graduate Discovers Comet |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1966/8/12/recent-graduate-discovers-comet-pa-recent/ |access-date=15 June 2024 |work=[[The Harvard Crimson]] |date=12 August 1966}}</ref>

In 1983, Kilston published a paper in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' with [[Leon Knopoff]], suggesting that earthquakes were linked to an "alignment of the sun and moon on opposite sides of the Earth that tugged the opposite sides of faults in opposing directions".<ref name=Maugh>{{cite news |last1=Maugh |first1=Thomas H. |title=Leon Knopoff dies at 85; UCLA scientist who applied computer modeling in earthquake research |url=https://www.latimes.com/science/la-me-leon-knopoff-20110203-story.html |access-date=15 June 2024 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=3 February 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Sullivan |first1=Walter |author-link=Walter Sullivan (journalist)|title=A Year of Earthquakes: Is There a Worldwide Link? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/08/science/a-year-of-earthquakes-is-there-a-worldwide-link.html |access-date=15 June 2024 |work=[[New York Times]] |date=8 November 1983}}</ref> They successfully predicted the [[1987 Superstition Hills earthquakes]].<ref name=Maugh />

Kilston has envisioned a "Plausible Path to the Stars", in which a spaceship carrying a million inhabitants could reach the few dozen nearest stars in 10,000 years' time.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Goldsmith |first1=Donald |title=Expert Voices Does Humanity's Destiny Lie in Interstellar Space Travel? |url=https://www.space.com/28378-does-human-destiny-lie-in-interstellar-space-travel.html |website=[[Space.com]] |date=27 January 2015 |access-date=15 June 2024}}</ref>

==References==
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[[Category:1944 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni]]
[[Category:American astronomers]]
[[Category:Discoverers of comets]]