Robert D. Stephens (born 1955) is an American amateurastronomer and a prolificphotometrist ofminor planets at the Center for Solar System Studies (U81), Rancho Cucamonga in California, United States.[1][2]
By profession, Stephens is aCertified Public Accountant in California since 1978, and has co-founded the accounting firmFox & Stephens Inc. in 1988.[3]
Member of theAmerican Astronomical Society and former president of the Riverside Astronomical Society,[4] Stephens became active in studying minor planets in 1999. Since then, he has obtained and published hundreds of rotational ±light curves of asteroids from photometric observations taken at the CS3–Trojan Station of theCenter for Solar System Studies (U81),Landers, in the Southern California desert,[1] where he collaborates with astronomers Daniel Coley (U80) andBrian D. Warner (U82). He is president of the astronomical research institutionMoreData! Inc., as well as treasurer of theSociety for Astronomical Sciences and theAmerican Association of Variable Star Observers.[5]