Donald Edward Machholz (October 7, 1952 – August 9, 2022) was an American amateur astronomer who was credited with the discovery of 12 comets that bear his name.
Donald Machholz | |
---|---|
Born | Donald Edward Machholz October 7, 1952 Portsmouth, Virginia, U.S.[1] |
Died | August 9, 2022 Wikieup, Arizona, U.S. | (aged 69)
Occupation | Amateur astronomer |
Years active | 1970–2022 |
Spouse |
Michele Machholz
(m. 2014) |
In 2014, he married photojournalist Michele Machholz. They resided at the Stargazer Ranch in Wikieup, Arizona. [1]
Machholz died in the early morning of August 9, 2022, at his home in Wikieup, Arizona, from complications of COVID-19.[2][3][4] His obituary at Astronomy stated, "In the years leading up to his death, Machholz was considered the most prolific visual comet discoverer alive."[3]
He spent more than 9,000 hours comet hunting in a career spanning over 50 years.[1][5] These comets include the periodic comets 96P/Machholz, 141P/Machholz, the non-periodic C/2004 Q2 (Machholz) that were visible with binoculars in the northern sky in 2004 and 2005, C/2010 F4 (Machholz), and C/2018 V1 (Machholz-Fujikawa-Iwamoto)[6][7] In 1985, comet Machholz 1985-e, was discovered using a homemade cardboard telescope with a wide aperture, 10 inches across, that gave it a broader field of view than most commercial telescopes.[8] Machholz utilized a variety of methods in his comet discoveries, in 1986 using 29×130 binoculars he discovered 96P/Machholz.[9]
Machholz was one of the inventors of the Messier Marathon, which is a race to observe all the Messier objects in a single night.[3]
Asteroid 245983 Machholz, discovered by Kazimieras Černis, was named in honor of Machholz in November 2017.[10]