Luboš Kohoutek

Luboš Kohoutek ( born January 29, 1935 in Zábřeh, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech astronomer.

Life

Luboš Kohoutek studied physics and astronomy until 1958 in Brno and Prague. He subsequently worked at the Astronomical Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. After the suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968 Kohoutek emigrated in 1970 in the Federal Republic of Germany. Since then he has worked - even after his retirement in 2001 - at the observatory in Hamburg- Bergedorf.

Astronomical discoveries

1967 created Luboš Perek and Kohoutek Luboš Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae their ( Catalogue of galactic planetary nebulae ). It was at that time the most extensive catalog with 1036 entries.

Kohoutek is the discoverer of the well known long-period comet C/1973 E1 ( Kohoutek ), which he sighted for the first time on March 7, 1973, which was named after him. Do not confuse this with the comet, also discovered by Kohoutek, short-period comets 75D/Kohoutek and 76P/West-Kohoutek-Ikemura. Kohoutek is discoverer of numerous other comets and asteroids.

The discovery of the comet of 1973 triggered a true comet hysteria, as the first observations led to the expectation that he would become one of the brightest comets of the century. However, the actual brightness development lagged far behind the predictions.

In popular music, the enthusiasm left the comet Kohoutek traces in the form of "Concert for the Comet Kohoutek " by Sun Ra and songs by Kraftwerk ( " Kohoutek - Kometenmelodie " ), REM and 808 State ( both entitled " Kohoutek " ), Václav Neckář ( " Comet Kohoutek ") and Willem ( " Oops, my the Kohoutek ").

In honor of his achievements, the asteroid ( 1850) Kohoutek was named after him.

Furthermore, discovered Kohoutek 1967 main-belt asteroids ( 4425 ) Bilk.

Publications (selection )

• Luboš Kohoutek, Rudolf Kippenhahn, Holger Heuseler, Hans Oberdorfer: The century comet Kohoutek. German publishing house, Stuttgart 1973, ISBN 3-421-02379-4.
• The earth from the perspective of an astronomer: nonfiction. August-von -Goethe literature publishing house, Frankfurt 2007, ISBN 978-3-86548-887-9.
• Our habitat at risk: The Earth's atmosphere. August-von -Goethe literature publishing house, Frankfurt 2009, ISBN 978-1-84698-977-3.