The asteroid 1999DN4, discovered in 1999 by the amateur astronomer Denis Bergeron from Val-des-Bois, Quebec, has now an IAU official name: MADOLA. This name has been formed by the first syllable from the names of the three 2009 Radio-Canada scientists of the year: MA for Christian Marois, who did his graduate studies at UdeM, DO for the Rene Doyon, who is professor at UdeM and member of the CRAQ and LA for the UdeM post-doctoral researcher and member of CRAQ David Lafrenière. Those three scientists were part of the team that obtained the first image of a planetary system around the star HR 8799.

This new name has been suggested by Jean-Marc Richard from the Amateur Astronomers Club of Laval, from which Christian Marois was also a member. The accompanying citation was sent by Yvan Dutil, a Quebec astronomer and member of the CRAQ. The IAU registration of the asteroid was done by the mentor of the three researchers: the UdeM emeritus professor René Racine. This is a great occasion to underline the close collaboration between professional and amateur astronomers.

This asteroid is not Denis Bergeron's first discovery. He already reported four asteroids, for which he describes very rigorously the discoveries on a website (CLICK HERE). One of them was in fact named after René Racine, the emeritus professor and one of the initial developer of the Observatoire du Mont-Mégantic. The asteroid's name, now made official by the IAU, is 45580 Reneracine (2000 CB81).

The NASA provides information on MADOLA ( http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=madola) :

« 74503 Madola discovered 1999 Feb. 23 by D. Bergeron at Val-des-Bois. Christian Marois (b. 1974), René Doyon (b. 1963) and David Lafrenière (b. 1978) developed instruments that allowed seeing an extrasolar planetary system. Doyon was director of the Mt. Mégantic Observatory; Marois and Lafrenière were postdoctoral fellows at the Herzberg Institute and the University of Toronto. »

The members of the CRAQ are proud to underline the achievements and the work of Denis Bergeron and would like to congratulate him.

Informations :
Olivier Hernandez, Ph.D.
relation avec les médias
CRAQ – Université de Montréal
Tel: 514-343-6111 ext 4681
Fax: 514-343-2071
olivier@astro.umontreal.ca