Eleanor Francis Helin was an American astronomer who was active in planetary science and astronomy at the California Institute of Technology and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for more than three decades. She was a major force in the field of finding near-earth asteroids as well as several comets.

In the early 1970s, she initiated the Palomar Planet-Crossing Asteroid Survey from Palomar Observatory. This program is responsible for the discovery of thousands of asteroids of all types, including more than 200 in high inclination orbits, other rare and unique orbital types of asteroids, 20 comets and approximately 30 percent of the near-earth asteroids discovered worldwide.

She also organized and coordinated the International Near Earth Asteroid Survey during the 1980s, encouraging and stimulating worldwide interest in asteroids. In recognition of Dr. Helin's accomplishments, she received NASA's Exceptional Service Medal and asteroid (3267) Helin was named for her by the International Astronomical Union.

Dr. Helin also was principal investigator of JPL's Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program, a system mounted on a 1.2-meter telescope that looks for threatening objects in space.

In operation since December 1995, NEAT is an autonomous observing program. No personnel are at the observatory. Only a computer runs the observing system through the night, and transmits the data back to JPL each morning for team member review and confirmation. NEAT has detected 438 near-earth asteroids to date.

The 1997 JPL Award for Excellence was presented to Dr. Helin in recognition of her leadership of the NEAT program. She has also received NASA's group achievement award for the NEAT team.

Dr. Helin didn't start her career as an astronomer. Her formal education was in geology. At first, she studied minerals, rocks and landforms on Earth. However, during the 1960s she helped set up a lunar laboratory to help NASA know more about how and where to land on the surface of the moon.

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