Uraniya Astro Society
Moscow, Russia
09 August 2014
Amar A. Sharma
Nikaya Observatory
Bangalore, India

*Got sparked by astronomy around 2000 – 10th class. Began
practically from 2002 after seeing very dark skies outside Bangalore
*Comets main passion within astronomy: observing, sketching,
imaging, history, literature, biographies…and dreaming!
*Was an extremely active Deep-Sky Observer from 2005 to 2008 with
an observing partner Akarsh Simha. Observed as many comets all
through.
*Actively involved in public outreach from 2008 to 2011 or so with
BAS club. Taken astronomy to few thousand people through star
parties and sidewalk astronomy.
*Working individually since late 2011 as amateur astronomer-in-
charge at Nikaya Observatory – India’s first privately owned large
public observatory. Taken astronomy to around 1000 people, mainly
students

* Back then observed 250 galaxies, 75 globular clusters with medium aperture (8-inch
mainly). Inclined to binocular observing like 10x50 and 25x100
* Total comet count ~60: informal visual 38 / ccd ~20
* Visually hunted for comets only 5-6 hours with small apertures. Need to start seriously,
visual or ccd. Persisting dream for 10 years: Discover comets!!
* Accidentally discovered a Mira type variable while wanting to image Pluto on ccd camera
in July 2012
* In 2012 started working on world history of 20th century comet hunting: 70 comet
hunters, 9 countries, 150 years!! Contacted nearly every comet hunter through email.
Will be a multi-volume Encyclopedia
* Desperately trying to make a documentary film on veteran / aged comet discoverers:
those aged 85 years and in the passing… We lost Albert Jones (93) and William Bradfield
(86) who were part of my planned documentary film!
* In 2013 started writing a book on passion and spirit of amateur astronomy – the deepest
book that could be! Completed 550 pages, 100 more remain!

*
I divide it according to zones:
* West
USA / Canada
* Central
United Kingdom / Lithuania / Rest of Europe / Russia /
South Africa
* East
Japan / Australia / New Zealand

*
There was lot of competition in the 20th century comet
hunting in the USA:
Edward Barnard
Lewis Swift
William Brooks
Joel Metcalf
John Mellish
Robert van Arsdale
Leslie Peltier
and others…
Maria Mitchell – America’s first lady comet hunter + discoverer &
world’s second lady comet hunter + discoverer [C/1847 T1 (Mitchell)]

*
BORN: 1948 – present. USA
JOB: Astronomer at Jarnac
Observatory, author of 30+ books,
multi-faceted astronomer
Inspired by Comet Ikeya-Seki and
began his comet hunting in 1965
Discoverer of 23 comets! Over 60
asteroids

*
First comet in 1984 after 917 hours of
hunting
Paired with the famous Shoemaker
couple to use Palomar Observatory
Discovered the famous Comet SL-9 which
slammed into Jupiter; first time we saw
a celestial catastrophe
Asteroid 3673 Levy (1985 QS) named in
honour by Dr Edward Bowell from Lowell
Observatory

*
BORN: 1952 – present. USA.
JOB: R&D technician in a laser &
optics company. Independent real
estate appraiser / agent
Started comet hunting on New Year’s
1975. His equipment have been 11-cm
f5 reflector / 25 cm f3.8 mirror. 6.2"
binoculars / 18" f4.8 reflector
1st comet discovered after 1700 hours
of hunting. 2nd comet discovered
after 1742 hours. Total hunting 7600
hours!!
Discovered 11 comets

*Hunted comet for over
500 hours but stopped
Discoverer of famous
Comet Hale-Bopp.
Accidental discovery
Professional turned
amateur astronomer
Has observed more than
500 returns of same
comets or different
comets
Countdown to 500 comets
program

*
BORN: 1950 – present. USA
JOB: Ex-Librarian at University
of South California's Gerontology
Centre
Joined Palomar Observatory in
1983 to use the 60-inch
telescope
Assigned observer on the Second
Palomar Observatory Sky Survey
(POSS-II)

*
She holds by far the record for
supernovae discoveries by a
woman: 49 supernovae, 9
unusual asteroids, 5 comets
Only 4 other professional
astronomers have found more
supernovae - Fritz Zwicky 122,
Charles Kowal 83, Christian
Pollas and Paul Wild 48

*
Late Eugene Shoemaker was a
planetary geologist at USGS
Carolyn picked up astronomy and
started working herself
Discovered around 32 comets (?)
They formed a historic team with David
Levy and his wide Wendee Levy at
Palomar Observatory
Team discovered the famous Comet
Shoemaker Levy 9 which impacted onto
Jupiter in 1994

*
BORN: 1931 – 1993. USA
Burnham Jr joined the Lowell
Observatory to work on Proper Motion
Survey of Stars. His team had identified
9000 high-motion stars, 1500 asteroids
& 2000 new white-dwarf suspects
Best known for his Burnham’s Celestial
Handbooks
Discovered 6 comets
Had a very tragic ending. Got mentally
imbalanced and was found roaming the
streets

*
OTHER DISCOVERERS
* Howard Brewington discovered 5 comets
* Michael Rudenko discovered 1 comet (2?)
* Patrick Stonehouse discovered 1 comet
* Roy Tucker, a modern day minor planet hunter also discovered 1
comet (2?) apart from hundreds of asteroids
* Clyde Tombaugh, the famous discoverer of Pluto, also happened
to discover 2 comets (1?) while his photographic searches (number
unsure?) at Lowell Observatory

*
* Rolf Meier discovered 4 comets
Was among the first to use a large aperture, 16-inch f/5 reflector
(belonging to their club RASC), for comet hunting in contrary to the
belief that smaller equipment with wider field of view was the
preferred equipment
His 1st comet was actually easily visible for over a year. It was among
the largest known comets based on its intense intrinsic brightness
Rolf quotes, "Infact I was able to spot my first comet which I
discovered even on the day I found my second comet!"
* Doug George discovered 1 comet

*
Began astronomy career as a devoted
assistant to her brother William
Herschel
Started her own survey of the sky
noting DSOs
Started comet hunting
Discovered 8 comets!
First woman comet hunter &
discoverer in history
Maria Mitchell of US was the second
comet hunter & discoverer with only
1 comet discovery

*
BORN: 1848 - 1931. UK
Doyen (father-figure) of British amateur
astronomers
Pioneer of meteor astronomy
Keen planetary visual observer. Did
extensive work on Jupiter & Saturn
observations
Discoverer of Nova Aquilae in 1918 & Nova
Cygni in 1920
First President of the BAA
Discoverer of 4 comets

*
BORN: 1912 – 2000. UK
JOB: School Teacher
Simply the greatest visual
observer who lived
Memorized 25,000 stars through
star patters in order to identify
new stars in the eyepiece!
Discovered 5 comets
Discovered 5 novae

*
Contributed to meteor observing
before radio meteor observers
halted his work by their
technology
He was feeling he is going to get
lucky one night and he was not
surprised when he went out and
actually discovered a nova!
Discovered Nova Herculis 1991
(V838 Her) from his house window
using just a 10x50 binoculars
His last comet C/1983 H1 (IRAS-
Araki-Alcock) was the 3rd closest
comet to Earth in history!!

*
OTHER DISCOVERERS:
* Roy Panther discovered a comet on Christmas Day of
1980 after 33 years and 600 hours of comet hunting
* Michael Candy discovered Comet Candy 1961 II from his
window
Asteroid 3015 Candy named in his honour

*
Skalnaté Pleso Observatory, on
Mount Lomnicky Stit on Tatra
Mountains, was known for
producing its Star Atlases
Established during World War II
Dr Antonin Bečvář was the
founder
First professional comet
hunting survey. They used
25x100 Somet-Binnar
binoculars (Zeiss optics)

*
Between 1946 & 1959, 5
observers found 18 comets
Antonin Mrkos found 11 new
comets in 11 years
The lady comet hunter
L’udmilla Pajdušáková found 5
new comets
Other observers were: Mrkos.
Kresák, and the lady Vozárová

*
BORN: 1958 – present. Lithuania
JOB: Stellar Astronomer at Institute of
Vilnius
Comet hunting from 1977 to 2007
From 1978 till 1996 he observed in Mount
Maidanak, Uzbekistan, quite often
Very difficult observing conditions at Mt.
Maidanak: No telephone, no circular, no
telegram
Discovered 3 comets totaling 2000 hours!
Discovered 1 nova: Nova Cygni 1975

*
Fyodor Aleksandrovich Bredikhin – Father of Russian comet astronomy.
Known for his study of comet tails
DISCOVERERS:
* Sergey Ivanovich Belyavsky - bright naked-eye comet C/1911 S3
(Beljawsky)
* Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh - two periodic comets
74P/Smirnova-Chernykh and 101P/Chernykh
* Grigory Abramovich Shajn & Pelageya Shajn
* Grigory Nikolayevich Neujmin
* Tamara Mikhaylovna Smirnova
Comet Jurlof-Achmarof-Hassel – last 2 discoverers are Russian

*

*

*
Of the 57 comet discoveries in that period, 38 were made in the 30-
year period from 1920–1950 in South Africa
Most interesting discovery of a comet by a South African would be of
C/1961 V (Wilson-Hubbard) Miss Anna Ras, a South African Airways
stewardess!
Most prolific of SA comet discoverers were:
* William Reid with 6 discoveries
* Michiel Bester with 6 discoveries
* Daniel du Toit with 5 discoveries
* Jack Bennett discovered 1 good comet (also had distinction of
being the first amateur to visually discover an extra-gaalctic
supernova in M83)

*SOUTH AFRICAN DISCOVERERS:
J F Skjellerup - not a South African national but an Australian
G E Ensor - amateur
T B Blathwayt - amateur
Alexander Forbes - amateur
Clement Taylor - amateur
William Reid - amateur
Jack Bennett - amateur
Reginald de Kock - amateur
Jose Campos - amateur, now lives in his native Portugal [the only alive comet
discoverer from SA]
E L Johnson - professional
Cyril Jackson - professional
Hendrik van Gent - professional, not a South African national
Daniel du Toit - professional, night assistant at Boyden Observatory
Michiel Bester - professional, night assistant at Boyden Observatory

*
In my estimate, the number of comet hunters in the
20th century in Japan alone were equal to or more
than the number of comet hunters all over the world!!!

*
BORN: 1930 – 1991
Discovered 12 comets
Discovered 11 novae
Inspired Tsutomu Seki and Kaoru
Ikeya, who in turn inspired
generations of comet hunters
In 1941, he was sent to the
Pacific War. From the middle of
Singapore battle-field he comet
hunted and actually recovered
periodic comet Grigg-Skjellerup
after getting the message out!!

*
BORN: 1930 – present. Japan
JOB: Private Guitar instructor / tutor
Got inspired into comet hunting by
senior Japanese hunter Minoru Honda’s
discovery of 45/P Honda-Mrkos-
Pajdusakova
Did comet hunting for 1000 hours in the
1950s but was not having much hope
Started with a new search strategy and
telescope. Found first comet in 1961
with a 3.5” refractor

*
Second comet C/1962 C1 (Seki-Lines) was
very bright and reached naked-eye visibility
Third comet, most famous, C/1965 S1
(Ikeya-Seki) was a Sungrazer and reached -7
magnitude (?)
Discovered 6 comets (2 of them very bright)
At Geisei Observatory, he has observed
(imaged) 3000 asteroids & discovered 223
asteroids
Works for public outreach at Geisei
Observatory

*BORN: 1943 – present. Japan
JOB: Worked at a Piano factory
Interested after seeing Comet
Arend-Roland and Mrkos
Had a difficult early life and poor
family background
Discovered 7 comets
Few in historic co-discoveries with
fellow country person Tsutomu Seki
Most famous comet: C/1965 S1
(Ikeya-Seki)

*
BORN: 1962 – present. Japan
JOB: Scientist at Forestry and
Forest Products Research Institute
Discovered 2 comets:
C/2002 E2 (Snyder-Murakami)
C/2010 V1 (Ikeya-Murakami)
Narrowly missed C/2006 T1 (Levy)

*
BORN: 1928 – 2014. New Zealand
JOB: Rocket Scientist at Department of Defense
Weapons Systems Research Lab
Saw Comet Bennett and got inspired towards comet
hunting
Purchased a 100-year-old 6-inch f/5.5 telescope for
just $60 (AUD)
Discovered 18 comets. All only Comet Bradfields!
Totaled 3000 hours!
Discovered first comet after 260 hours of hunting.
Discovered 14 comets with the 6” refractor.
Discovered 4 comets with a 10” reflector

*
AWARDS:
Member of the Order of Australia in 1989 for
his services to science
Berenice Page Medal of the ASSA in 1981 for his
contribution to the discovery and
understanding of comets
Received the Edgar Wilson Award for his comet
discovery C/2004 F4 (Bradfield) in 2004
Asteroid 3430 Bradfield (1980 TF4) named in
honour of him, discovered by Carolyn S.
Shoemaker

*
BORN: (could not find out. But presently alive). Australia
JOB: Retired… University Extension lecturing in Philosophy
Inspired after seeing Comet Ikeya-Seki of 1965
Possessed quite a few equipment for comet observing
He has made hundreds of visual comet estimates. Several
hundred are of Comet Halley and Hale-Bopp alone

*
Started comet hunting in late 1964. Stopped since about
2009. Hunted totally around 600-700 hours in active days
Discovered C/1978 XV (Seargent) in 1978 with 15x80
binoculars

*
BORN: 1966 – present. Australia
JOB: IT server infrastructure at an IT
company in Australia
Discovered 3 comets:
* C/2007 E2 (Lovejoy) - Canon 350D
DSLR with 200mm f2.8 lens
* C/2007 K5 (Lovejoy) - Canon 350D
DSLR with 200mm f2.8 lens
* C/2011 W3 (Lovejoy) - 8-inch
Celestron Hyperstar + CCD

*
Terry is the first person to:
* Discover a comet with a DSLR
* Find SOHO comets outside of SOHO
itself using their internet images
* Find a Kreutz Sungrazer comet from
the ground
* Find a Kreutz Sungrazer comet from
space based images
Received 3 Edgar Wilson Awards for
each of his comet discoveries
Asteroid 61342 Lovejoy named after
him

*
BORN: 1962 – present. Australia
JOB: Senior Director of R&D at a
U.S. based software company
C/1996 Q1 (Tabur)
C/1997 N1 (Tabur)
C/2003 T3 (Tabur)

*
BORN: 1920 – 2013. New Zealand.
JOB: Worked at oat-processing mill, grocery
shop owner, car assembly factory
Greatest visual variable observer of all time!
Only person on the planet to have made
500,000 variable star estimates!!!
Made his first variable star estimate in 1943
of Nova Puppis 1942. Continued it until his old
age in his 90s. Career spanning 7 decades!!

*
TELESCOPES
5” f/15 Calver reflector purchased in 1941
5.5” refractor purchased in 1945
12.5” f/5 reflector purchased in 1948
Actively contributed visual comet magnitude
estimates to BAA Comet Section in UK. Activity in
1950 was below average back in UK but a good part
of comet estimates were coming from NZ by Albert
Jones
Was not a comet hunter but spent few hours comet
hunting. Turned to his main passion of variable
stars

*
Independently recovered periodic Comet
P/Kopff in 1945 and periodic Comet P/Grigg-
Skjellerup in 1952
Accidentally discovered 2 comets while
variable star observing
* Comet 1946 VI - while observing
* C/2000 W1 (Utsunomiya-Jones) – while
observing T Apodis
Independently discovered the supernova SN
1987A in LMC by naked-eyes

*
AWARDS:
* First Murray Geddes Memorial Prize in 1945 for
variable star work
* ASP’s Donhoe Comet Medal in 1947 for
discovery of Comet 1946 VI
* ASP’s Bronze Medal in 1973 continuing
observations of cometary magnitudes
* Donovan Medal and Prize for discovery of
Comet 1946 VI
* Michaelis Gold Medal and prize from the
University of Otago in 1956
* Merlin Silver Medal and Prize in 1968 for
establishing accurate magnitudes of
comets
* RAS' Jackson-Gwilt Medal in 1960

*
AWARDS:
* Amateur Achievement Award of the ASP in
1998 for variable star and comet
observations
* Award of the Order of the British Empire
(OBE) in 1987
* Edgar Wilson Award for C/2000 W1
(Utsunomiya-Jones)
* Doctor of Science from the Victoria
University of Wellington in 2004
Asteroid (3152) Jones named in his honour by
Alan Gilmore and Pam Kilmartin from Mt.
John Observatory in 1988

*
Today 9th August is late Albert Jones’ 94th
birthday!!!

*
BORN: 1945 – present. New Zealand.
JOB: Worked at Taranaki Newspapers. Also served as the
staff of Mt John Observatory
Discovered 3 comets
* C/1982 M1 (Austin) – found after
151 hunting hours over 13 years
* C/1984 N1 (Austin)
* C/1989 X1 (Austin)
C/1989 X1 (Austin) was expected to reach easy naked-
eye visibility but it did not live up to expectations

*
This is the only sport of
astronomy where
awards have been
granted to discoverers
since 17th century till
date!
To encourage amateur
comet discoveries

*
INTERNATIONAL MEDALS
Joseph Jerome de Lalande 1800 – 1807
Frederick VI, King of Denmark 1831 - 1848
Academy of Vienna 1869 – 1880 [David Levy
quotes 30 years]
Warner Prize 1881 – 1888
Donohoe Medal 1889 – 1950 / 1968 – 1974
Tuthill Comet Award 1977 – 1987
Edgar Wilson Award 1998 –
NATIONAL MEDALS
Astronomical Society of Japan’s Medals 1936 –

*
Amateur astronomers who are comet hunters are so passionate about
what they do, they will never stop!
Discovering a comet is very rare and monetary awards are not an
incentive for them. They do it because their heart compels them to
do so
Today the era of visual hunting – the old fashioned way of looking into
the eyepiece – has nearly come to an end. Professional surveys have
taken over
Amateurs are now using CCD equipment and looking for comets
They keep surprising with the exciting bright comet finds they make,
like the recent Comet Lovejoy & Comet ISON

Amar A. Sharma
Bangalore, India
Contact: +91-9535098126
Work for Public Outreach at Nikaya Observatory (private facility)
www.picasaweb.google.com/nikayaobservatory
nikayaobservatory@gmail.com