Audouin Dollfus

Audouin Dollfus Charles (* November 12, 1924; † 1 October 2010) was a French astronomer who discovered Saturn's moon Janus.

In 1966, Dollfus discovered Janus, a small inner moon of Saturn. He achieved this by observing Saturn's rings, as this can be seen from the Earth from the edge and thus were almost invisible. During this time he watched probably Epimetheus, a small moon that has the same orbit as Janus. Dollfus but did not realize that this is two different objects. Richard L. Walker is therefore regarded as the discoverer of Epimetheus.

Awards

The asteroid ( 2451 ) Dollfus was named after him.