[meteorite-list] 2013 Comet Awards Announced by Minor Planet Center

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2014 15:59:21 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201404152259.s3FMxLjC016397_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2014-08

2013 Comet Awards Announced
Release No.: 2014-08
For Release: Tuesday, April 15, 2014 - 2:30pm

Cambridge, MA - The Minor Planet Center, located at the Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in Cambridge, Mass., has announced the
recipients of the 2013 Edgar Wilson Award for the discovery of comets
by amateurs. This is the fifteenth consecutive year that these Awards
have been given.

Money for the Awards was set aside as part of the will bequeathed by the
late businessman Edgar Wilson of Lexington, Kentucky, and administered
by the SAO. This year a total of $42,000 will be distributed among the
recipients.

For most amateur astronomers, the historical naming of the comet for them
has more meaning than any award, but the bestowment of the Edgar Wilson
Award gives extra prestige and notice to their effort. Amateur comet
discoverers usually put in long hours observing, with no financial aid,
unlike the professional astronomers who discover most comets nowadays via
surveys with large telescopes. Automated CCD searches with large professional
telescopes have dominated comet discovery since 1998, so the contributions
of amateurs deserve special recognition.

There have been numerous comet awards over the centuries, but the Wilson
Award is currently the largest publicly known award.

The following seven discoverers will receive plaques and a cash award:

        * Paulo Holvorcem of Porto Seguro, Brazil, and Michael Schwartz of Nogales,
Arizona, for their joint discovery of six comets: P/2012 TK8, P/2012 WX32,
C/2013 C2, C/2013 D1, P/2013 EW90, and C/2013 G9
        * Masuyuki Iwamoto of Tokushima-ken, Japan, for his discovery of comet
C/2013 E2
        * Artyom Novichonok of Kondopoga, Russia, and Vitali Nevski of Vitebsk,
Belarus, for their joint discovery of comet C/2012 S1 (ISON)
        * Claudine Rinner of Ottmarsheim, France, for her discovery of three
comets: P/2011 W2, C/2012 CH17, and P/2013 CE31M
        * Tomas Vorobjov of Bratislava, Slovak Republic, for his discovery of
comet P/2012 T7

This is the third Wilson Award for Holvorcem, and the second for both
Schwartz and Novichonok.

The sun-grazing comet ISON (C/2012 S1), in particular, made a big splash
in the media for its potential to become stunningly bright in early December.
Unfortunately, ISON didn't survive its brush past the Sun on November
28th.

In years when there are no eligible comet discoverers, the Award is made
instead to amateur astronomers judged by the Minor Planet Center to have
made important contributions toward observing comets or promoting an interest
in the study of comets.

Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics (CfA) is a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory. CfA scientists, organized
into six research divisions, study the origin, evolution and ultimate
fate of the universe.

For more information, contact:

David A. Aguilar
Director of Public Affairs
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
617-495-7462
daguilar at cfa.harvard.edu

Christine Pulliam
Public Affairs Specialist
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
617-495-7463
cpulliam at cfa.harvard.edu
Received on Tue 15 Apr 2014 06:59:21 PM PDT