==I would add that it depends what “peer reviewed journals” he published in, and whether he has made original contributions to astronomy.
Iowa State Professor Who Was Denied Tenure Exceeds Department’s Tenure Standard by 350%
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2007/05/iowa_state_professor_who_was_d.html
Well, again, it depends what journals. Astronomy is not my field, but in my field there are “peer reviewed journals” that are prestigious and others that are pretty much worthless.
I only mention this because we don’t know. Given the brief description of the nature of his work and the number of articles he has published, I think it is highly probable that he was highly qualified for the job.
I think the odds are probably 99-1 that he was fired for reasons of bigotry. Possibly combined with jealousy, since it can be dangerous when a junior professor publishes at ten times the rate of the tenured faculty. When a faculty is not top notch, and if they are more concerned about themselves than the good of the department and the students, then they tend to be leery of hiring younger people who are obviously much better than they are.