Erwin Schwab (born 1964) is a German amateurastronomer anddiscoverer of minor planets, who works at theGSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research, nearDarmstadt, Germany.^[2][3][4] He has discovered and co-discovered more than 80asteroids^[1] from theStarkenburg (611), Tzec Maun (D25) and Taunus observatories (B01). As volunteer scientist for theEuropean Space Agency (ESA) he recoverednear-Earth objects andcomets.^[5][6][7] From 2014 to 2021 he recovered 30 lost comets, which equates to about 25% of the worldwide proportion in that timespan.^[8][9] Using the Schmidt telescope atCalar Alto Observatory (Z84) to search for a lost comet he discovered in 2019 a uniquevariable star – the first known eclipsing stream-fedintermediate polar, cataloged as J1832.4-1627 (VSX-Id ofAAVSO: 000-BNG-512)^{[10][11][12][13]}

Schwab was born inHeppenheim,^[3][14] where he started observing minor planets at theStarkenburg Observatory in 1981.^[15]

TheObservatorio Astronómico de La Sagra in Spain has named the main-belt asteroid185638 Erwinschwab in his honour.^[2][16][17]

One which he discovered is named after his parents, Elfriede and Erwin Schwab.^[18] Schwab has discovered asteroids at Starkenburg, Tzec Maun^[19] as well as at the Taunus Observatory.^[1] Some minor planet are named for German cities such as204852 Frankfurt,241418 Darmstadt, and243440 Colonia (Cologne), while the Jupiter-trojans192220 Oicles and221917 Opites are named after figures from Greek mythology. He also co-discovered2009 DM₄₅, an unnumbered Apollo asteroid andpotentially hazardous object.^[20]

• Kleinplaneten-Entdeckungen in Deutschland (German). Epubli Verlag, Berlin 2016,ISBN 978-3-741-80915-6.

• Erwin Schwab's Home Page

• 20th-century German astronomers
• Discoverers of asteroids
• Discoveries by Erwin Schwab
• Living people
• 1964 births
• 21st-century German astronomers

• Articles with German-language sources (de)
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• Use dmy dates from April 2022