Carl A. Wirtanen
| 1600 Vyssotsky | October 22, 1947 |
| 1685 Toro | July 17, 1948 |
| 1747 Wright | July 14, 1947 |
| 1863 Antinous | March 7, 1948 |
| 1951 Lick | July 26, 1949 |
| 2044 Wirt | November 8, 1950 |
| 6107 Osterbrock | January 14, 1948 |
| (29075) 1950 DA | February 22, 1950 |
| C/1947 O1 | July 18, 1947 |
| 46P/Wirtanen | January 17, 1948 |
| C/1948 N1 | July 15, 1948 |
| C/1948 T1 | October 7, 1948 |
| C/1956 F1 | March 16, 1956 |
Carl Alvar Wirtanen (November 11, 1910 – March 7, 1990) was an American astronomer and discoverer of comets and minor planets who worked at Lick Observatory.<ref name="Obituary-by-Klemola" /><ref name="springer" /> He was of Finnish ancestry.
Wirtanen was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin.<ref name="Obit">Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref> After visiting the observatory in Kenosha with his violin teacher at age 12, he started grinding mirrors.<ref name="Obit"/> Wirtanen joined the staff at Lick Observatory in 1941. During the Second World War, he took a job as a physicist at the California Institute of Technology and worked on ballistics at the Naval Ordnance Test Station in the Mojave Desert. He returned to Lick Observatory after the war, remaining there until his retirement in 1978.<ref name="Obit"/>
Wirtanen discovered periodic comet 46P/Wirtanen,<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref> as well as eight asteroids, including notably the Apollo asteroid (29075) 1950 DA, which may have a non-negligible probability of impacting the Earth in the year 2880. He also discovered two other Apollo asteroids: 1685 Toro and 1863 Antinous. Based on the Shane–Wirtanen survey, the Shane Wirtanen Catalogue, a count of galaxies, was his major work published in 1954.<ref name="Brown-1989" />
The asteroid 2044 Wirt, discovered by himself at Lick Observatory in 1950, was named in his honor in on 1 January 1981 (Template:Small). The name was proposed by his colleague Arnold Klemola.<ref name="springer" /><ref name="MPC-Circulars-Archive" />
Wirtanen died in Santa Cruz, California in 1990 following a lengthy illness. His remains were scattered at sea.<ref name="Obit"/>