Joseph Ashbrook (April 4, 1918 – August 4, 1980) was an Americanastronomer.

Ashbrook was born inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania. He received a doctorate fromHarvard University in 1947 and taught atYale University from 1946 to 1950, and at Harvard from 1950 to 1953. He started to work atSky and Telescope in 1953, where he wrote the column "Astronomical Scrapbook" from 1954 to 1980, and remained on its staff until his death; he also edited the magazine from 1964 on.^[1]

Ashbrook was one of the first to studyCepheid variables as tools for establishing galactic distances. He was a longtime member of theAAVSO.

He went through old archives of observations from centuries past to determine a highly precise value for therotation period ofMars —to within a few thousandths of a second.

He co-discovered the periodic comet47P/Ashbrook-Jackson in 1948.^[1]

• Member of theAmerican Astronomical Society andInternational Astronomical Union.
• CraterAshbrook on theMoon named after him.
• Minor planet2157 Ashbrook named after him.^[1]

• Journal of the American Association of Variable Star Observers9 (1980) 43
• Sky and Telescope60 (1980) 281

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