William A. Bradfield

William A. Bradfield (* 1927 in New Zealand) is one of the most famous ( and successful ) comet - discoverer of the world. A native New Zealander living in Australia and is not a professional, but an amateur astronomer. The long history of his discoveries began in 1972, when its name was entered by the relatively bright, almost freiäugig visible comet called C/1972 E1 ( Bradfield ) in the professional world. On 23 March 2004 he discovered at the age of 76 years his 18th comet, the comet C/2004 F4.

Bradfield is the most successful, exclusively visual working comet discoverer of the present. All comet discovered by him bear his name alone, he had to "share" no designation with a second, independent explorers.

Discoveries

Bradfield's comet discoveries of 1970

Bradfield's comet discoveries of 1980

Bradfield's comet discoveries from 1990

Some stats of 18 comets Bradfield

To discover a comet, it takes more than just luck, because that alone could also be another of 6 billion people. It takes knowledge and observation experience, technical skill, systematic search transitions (hence a lot of patience ) and the gift of the morning people, because in the morning it is more likely to find a new comet.

Almost all of Bradfield's discoveries were initially only weak spot, usually only from 9 - 10th Size class. Stars and comets that brightness can be seen even in a large binoculars any more. The most suitable telescopes are to bright " comet seeker".

  • Apparent magnitude in the discovery: 14 × in the range 9- 10mag, 1 × 8mag, 3 × 5 - 6mag.
  • Season (Southern Hemisphere ): 13 × summer, 2 × spring, autumn 1 ×, 2 × winter
  • Time of day: 11 × early in the morning, 7 × evening
  • Declination: 14 × between -20 ° and -56 ° (usually horizontnah at dusk )
Minor planet designation 1974 1975 November 11 1976 1978 October 10 June 24 1979 December 24 December 17 1984 August 11 1987 1989 1992 May 3 August 17 1995 1,000,000,000
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