George Eric Deacon Alcock

-

Name: George Eric Deacon Alcock

Birth: 28 Aug 1912

Palace: Peterborough, Northamptonshire

 

 Today is the anniversary of the birth of the English schoolteacher and amateur astronomer George Eric Deacon Alcock. A Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Royal Geographical Society, and the Royal Meteorological Society, he became interested in astronomy at a very early age and was destined to become one of the world’s most successful visual discoverers of novae and comets, with a total of 10 major discoveries to his name.


He started his search for comets in 1953, his first success being the discovery of Comet Alcock 1959 IV in 1959, an achievement that was followed a few days later by his discovery of Comet Alcock 1959 VI and further comet discoveries in 1963 and 1965, culminating in his final (co)-discovery, that of Comet 1983 VII IRAS-Araki-Alcock (pictured) which he picked up with 15 x 80 binoculars on 3 May 1983. 

His search for novae began in 1955, his first success being the identification and discovery of Nova Delphini 1967 (HR Delphini), which turned out to have an unusual light-curve. This was followed by LV Vul (in 1968), V368 Sct (in 1970) and V838 Her (in 1991). 

 The key to Alcock’s success was that he possessed an excellent memory for star patterns, enabling him to memorize the patterns of thousands of stars so that he would recognise the presence of any ‘intruder’. The asteroid 3174 Alcock, discovered on 26 Oct 1984 by American astronomer Edward L. G. ‘Ted’ Bowell, is named in his honour.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Instrument maker:Laurent Cassegrain

-
Image
Name: Laurent Cassegrain Birth: around 1629 Birthplace: Chartres,France     Today is the anniversary of the Birth of the French Catholic priest and instrument maker Laurent Cassegrain. Although this image may be a likeness of Laurent Cassegrain, no verifiable portrait of him is known to exist. he is best known to astronomers as being the probable inventor of a type of reflecting telescope which uses a combination of a primary concave mirror and a secondary convex mirror .  Now known as the Cassegrain reflector, Cassegrain’s design first appeared in the 25 Apr 1672 issue (pictured) of Le Journal des Sçavans (established by French writer Denis de Sallo in 1665 and the earliest academic journal published in Europe).  The 55 km diameter lunar crater Cassegrain, located to the south east of the larger crater Lebedev on the far side of the Moon and seen here immediately to the lower right of image centre, is named in his honour.
Read more

Discover of comet C/1946 P1 : Albert Francis Arthur Lofley Jones

-
Image
 Name: Albert Francis Arthur Lofley Jones Birthdate: 9 Aug 1920 Birthplace: Christchurch, New Zealand   Today is the anniversary of the birth of amateur astronomer Albert Francis Arthur Lofley Jones. His achievements include the discovery (on 6 Aug 1946 while observing the variable star U Puppis) of comet C/1946 P1 (Jones) and the co-discovery on 18 Nov 2000 (with astronomer Syogo Utsunomiya of Kumamoto, Japan) of the long-period comet C/2000 W1 (Utsunomiya-Jones) (pictured here on 18 Jan 2001).  He was also the co-discoverer of supernova SN 1987A (seen here as the bright star to right of centre of image) in the Large Magellanic Cloud. However, Albert Francis Arthur Lofley Jones is perhaps best remembered for his remarkable skills as a variable star observer.  He was also the co-discoverer of supernova SN 1987A (seen here as the bright star to right of centre of image) in the Large Magellanic Cloud. However, Albert Francis Arthur Lofley Jones is perhaps best remembered
Read more

Sir Isaac Newton:History of Astronomy

-
Image
  Today is the anniversary of the birth, at Woolsthorpe, near Grantham, Lincolnshire on 25 Dec 1642, of the English physicist, mathematician and astronomer Sir Isaac Newton .     Although his achievements were many, he is probably best remembered for his ‘Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica’ (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy). Often referred to as ‘The Principia’ and widely considered as being one of the most important works in the history of science, its contents i ncluded details of Newton's laws of motion (which went on to form the basis of classical mechanics) together with his famous law of universal gravitation. The 79 km diameter lunar crater Newton, located in the south polar region close to the southern limb of the Moon, and seen here with the satellite crater Newton D overlying its north-northeastern rim, is named in his honour.  Credit: societyforthehistoryofastronomy.com
Read more