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The Edgar Wilson Award


The Edgar Wilson Award
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/special/EdgarWilson.html

IAUC 6936 announces the establishment of an award for amateur comet
discoverers. The following text is taken from the Circular.

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This is to announce the establishment of and the criteria for the Edgar
Wilson Award for the discovery of comets. The Award shall be allocated
annually among the amateur astronomers who, using amateur equipment, have
discovered one or more new comets. Only comets officially named for their
discoverers shall be included in the annual count. Since particular
recognition is to be given to the amateurs who discover the most comets,
identical fractions of the total Award funds shall be allocated for each
comet with an eligible discoverer, except that if the same comet is credited
to more than one independent eligible discoverer, each discoverer shall
receive a full fraction. If the discovery is made as the result of
information produced or prepared by some other person, it shall not qualify
for consideration. Eligible discoveries may be made by visual, photographic
or electronic means.

The Award shall be administered by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
(SAO), as the beneficiary under the Will of Edgar Wilson of Lexington, KY.
This administration shall specifically be through the International
Astronomical Union (IAU) Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT),
which, with the advice of the Small Bodies Names Committee (SBNC) of IAU
Division III, has the responsibility for naming comets.

It is anticipated that the funds available for the first annual Award shall
be approximately US$20 000 (twenty thousand dollars). For the purpose of
this Award, a year shall be the period of twelve months beginning and ending
on June 11.0 UT. The first Award shall be for the year ending on 1999 June
11.0. The Award shall be announced and made during the month of July
following the end of each period.

To be eligible for the Award an individual must demonstrate:

  1. that he or she is acting in an amateur capacity, at least for the
     purpose of discovering the comet, and
  2. that only amateur, privately-owned equipment was used for the
     discovery.

In years when there are no eligible comet discoverers, the Award shall be
made instead to the amateur astronomer(s) judged by the CBAT to have made
the greatest contribution toward promoting an interest in the study of
comets.

SAO employees associated with the CBAT, SBNC members, as well as members of
their immediate families, are not eligible for the Award.

The Edgar Wilson Award is international in scope, and nationals of no
country are excluded from consideration. An observer who suspects he or she
has discovered a comet shall ensure that his or her discovery report reaches
the CBAT according to the usual procedures. The CBAT shall maintain the
necessary records and may contact the discoverers for eligibility
documentation.

The decision of SAO (via the CBAT) is final and takes precedence over the
description on this page.

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Hypothetical Example

A rather contrived example shows most of the probable situations that can
arise. In the year 2028, there were 13 discoveries of new comets:

   * C/2028 C1 (Papathanassiou); professional with professional telescope
   * C/2028 F1 (Oldfield); amateur
   * P/2028 F2 (Lennon-McCartney); two independent amateurs
   * C/2028 G1 (Harrison-Starr); two amateurs working together
   * P/2028 K1 (SONOFLINEAR); professional
   * C/2028 L1 (Papathanassiou); naked-eye discovery by professional in an
     entirely amateur capacity
   * C/2028 M2 (Oldfield); amateur
   * P/2028 O1 (Hail-Caesar); independent amateur and professional discovery
   * C/2028 S2 (Jarre); amateur locating comet on Palomar Sky Survey V
   * C/2028 T1 (Harrison); amateur while observing with the 1.5-m at Palomar
   * P/2028 U1 (Harrison-Clapton); joint amateur and professional discovery
     with professional equipment
   * C/2028 U2 (Harrison-Clapton); joint amateur and professional discovery
     with amateur equipment in an entirely amateur capacity
   * C/2028 X3 (Starr); amateur

Comments:

   * In these examples the term 'amateur' alone means an amateur observing
     with amateur equipment. Similarly, 'professional' alone means a
     professional using professional equipment.
   * C/2028 G1 was by a team and is eligible for one share.
   * Although Papathanassiou is a professional, his discovery of C/2028 L1
     is eligible because it was not using professional equipment.
   * C/2028 O1: Hail is eligible because he is an amateur, Caesar is not
     because he is a professional.
   * C/2028 S2 is not eligible because the information used for the
     discovery was prepared by someone else.
   * P/2028 U1 is not eligible because the discovery was not made with
     amateur equipment.
   * C/2028 U2 was by a team and is eligible for one share.

The shares per discovery are then as follows:

            By comet                         By discoverer
C/2028 C1 (Papathanassiou)     0       Oldfield        2   = 1+1
C/2028 F1 (Oldfield)           1       Starr           1.5 = 0.5+1
P/2028 F2 (Lennon-McCartney)   1+1     McCartney       1   = 1
C/2028 G1 (Harrison-Starr)    0.5+0.5  Harrison        1   = 0.5+0+0+0.5
P/2028 K1 (SONOFLINEAR)        0       Lennon          1   = 1
C/2028 L1 (Papathanassiou)     1       Papathanassiou  1   = 0+1
C/2028 M2 (Oldfield)           1       Hail            1   = 1
P/2028 O1 (Hail-Caesar)        1+0     Clapton         0.5 = 0+0.5
C/2028 S2 (Jarre)              0       SONOFLINEAR     0   = 0
C/2028 T1 (Harrison)           0       Caesar          0   = 0
P/2028 U1 (Harrison-Clapton)   0+0     Jarre           0   = 0
C/2028 U2 (Harrison-Clapton)  0.5+0.5          Total   9
C/2028 X3 (Starr)              1
                     Total     9       Estimated Award per share
                                       = 20000/9 = c. US$ 2222

Just for interest's sake, if this award had been operating in recent years
the number of eligible discoveries would be: 1995 award, 5; 1996 award, 6;
1997 award, 5; and 1998 award, 4.