He specializes in astronomy, astronomical instrumentation, statistical methods, stellar astrophysics, astrometric properties of nearby stars and the observational discovery and the study of planetary systems.
[2] In the 1960s astronomer Peter van de Kamp claimed that he had discovered a planet orbiting Barnard's Star using astrometry.
[3] The second paper was authored by Gatewood and Heinrich Eichhorn, who repeated the astrometry measurements made by van de Kamp with improved equipment and failed to detect any sign of Barnard's Star companions.
[4] Despite his involvement in the Barnard's Star affair 23 years earlier, Gatewood himself created a similar controversy.
[8] Numerous subsequent studies of this system have failed to confirm the presence of any planets and have also gradually discredited his claim.