George Eric Deacon Alcock

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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.

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