Antonín Mrkos


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Antonín Mrkos was a Czech astronomer, born in Střemchoví, in the Austro-Hungarian Margraviate of Moravia.

Biography

Mrkos entered the University in Brno in 1938. His studies were interrupted by the onset of World War II, and in 1945 he became a staff member at the Skalnaté Pleso Observatory in Slovakia. It was from here that he carried out his extremely active cometary programme and became the discoverer of several unusual comets, the most famous of them the bright Comet 1957d.
He was the second Czech in Antarctica and the first Czechoslovak to reach the Southern Pole of Inaccessibility as a member of the 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition. The Czechoslovakian flag was the second flag raised after the flag of the USSR. He returned to Antarctica as the head of the four-member Czechoslovakian crew in the seventh Soviet Antarctic Expedition. He was studying auroras among other things.
He was invited for what would have been his third expedition to the Antarctic but could not participate because of an almost fatal accident. It is thought someone tried to injure or to kill him by adding a bottle of strongly concentrated detergent among his other bottles of mineral water. Since this accident he could only eat liquid meals for the rest of his life.
In 1965 he became director of Kleť observatory. Beginning in 1968 he made photographic observations at Kleť and extended this activity to minor planets in 1977. For many years he was the most regular contributor of data to the Minor Planet Center. He was President of Commission 6 from 1985 until 1988. He was associate professor at the Charles University in Prague and the University of South Bohemia. Mrkos died in 1996 in Prague, aged 78.
He discovered or co-discovered thirteen comets. Among these were the periodic comets 18D/Perrine–Mrkos, 45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdušáková, 124P/Mrkos and 143P/Kowal–Mrkos. He also discovered the bright non-periodic comet C/1957 P1. He discovered a number of asteroids, including the Amor asteroid 5797 Bivoj and Trojan asteroid 3451 Mentor.
Mrkos named asteroids 6758 Jesseowens in honour of Jesse Owens and 2747 Český Krumlov after the historic town of the same name. Another main-belt asteroid, 3357 Tolstikov, was named in honour of Yevgeny Tolstikov with whom he had explored the Antarctic in his youth. Fellow astronomer Lyudmila Chernykh named 1832 Mrkos in his honour, while Mrkos gratified her and her husband Nikolai with 2325 Chernykh.

List of discovered minor planets

2199 Kleť6 June 1978
2304 Slavia18 May 1979
2325 Chernykh25 September 1979
2367 Praha8 January 1981
2403 Šumava25 September 1979
2404 Antarctica1 October 1980
2552 Remek24 September 1978
2559 Svoboda23 October 1981
2747 Český Krumlov19 February 1980
2811 Střemchoví10 May 1980
2889 Brno17 November 1981
2936 Nechvíle17 September 1979
2971 Mohr30 December 1980
3003 Konček28 December 1983
3017 Petrovič25 October 1981
3130 Hillary20 December 1981
3137 Horky16 September 1982
3141 Buchar2 September 1984
3168 Lomnický Štít1 December 1980
3257 Hanzlík15 April 1982
3276 Porta Coeli15 September 1982
3278 Běhounek27 January 1984
3313 Mendel19 February 1980
3324 Avsyuk4 February 1983
3326 Agafonikov20 March 1985

3979 Brorsen8 November 1983
3980 Hviezdoslav4 December 1983
3981 Stodola26 January 1984
3983 Sakiko20 September 1984
3993 Šorm4 November 1988
4018 Bratislava30 December 1980
4054 Turnov5 October 1983
4090 Říšehvězd2 September 1986
4176 Sudek24 February 1987
4238 Audrey13 April 1980
4249 Křemže29 September 1984
4277 Holubov15 January 1982
4287 Třísov7 September 1989
4339 Almamater20 October 1985
4405 Otava21 August 1987
4408 Zlatá Koruna4 October 1988
4552 Nabelek11 May 1980
4554 Fanynka28 October 1986
4610 Kájov26 March 1989
4662 Runk19 April 1984
4663 Falta27 September 1984
4671 Drtikol10 January 1988
4691 Toyen7 October 1983
4698 Jizera4 September 1986
4702 Berounka23 April 1987

5865 Qualytemocrina31 August 1984
5891 Gehrig22 September 1981
5894 Telč14 September 1982
5897 Novotná29 September 1984
5910 Zátopek29 November 1989
5946 Hrozný28 October 1984
5958 Barrande29 January 1989
5997 Dirac1 October 1983
5998 Sitenský2 September 1986
6060 Doudleby19 February 1980
6064 Holašovice23 April 1987
6149 Pelčák25 September 1979
6175 Cori4 December 1983
6221 Ducentesima13 April 1980
6223 Dahl3 September 1980
6231 Hundertwasser20 March 1985
6266 Letzel4 October 1986
6281 Strnad16 September 1980
6377 Cagney25 June 1987
6379 Vrba15 November 1987
6385 Martindavid5 March 1989
6433 Enya18 November 1978
6440 Ransome8 September 1988
6441 Milenajesenská9 September 1988
6469 Armstrong14 August 1982

6824 Mallory8 September 1988
6825 Irvine4 October 1988
6897 Tabei15 November 1987
5 September 1986
7107 Peiser15 August 1980
7114 Weinek29 November 1986
7115 Franciscuszeno29 November 1986
7118 Kuklov4 November 1988
7171 Arthurkraus13 January 1988
7226 Kryl21 August 1984
7232 Nabokov20 October 1985
7328 Casanova20 September 1984
7332 Ponrepo4 December 1986
7334 Sciurus17 August 1988
7391 Strouhal8 November 1983
7398 Walsh3 November 1986
7403 Choustník14 January 1988
7464 Vipera15 November 1987
7635 Carolinesmith6 November 1983
7644 Cslewis4 November 1988
7645 Pons4 January 1989
7694 Krasetín29 September 1983
7695 Přemysl27 November 1984
7699 Božek2 February 1989
7701 Zrzavý14 October 1990

9027 Graps4 November 1988
9028 Konrádbeneš26 January 1989
29 November 1989
16 October 1982
20 October 1982
9551 Kazi20 October 1985
24 October 1985
29 January 1989
7 September 1981
9931 Herbhauptman18 April 1985
3 September 1980
26 January 1984
20 October 1985
14 January 1988
22 September 1981
11019 Hansrott25 April 1984
11020 Orwell31 July 1984
2 September 1986
25 October 1989
29 September 1984
4 November 1988
16 October 1982
11830 Jessenius2 May 1984
3 November 1986
29 January 1989

26 February 1979
12 April 1988
24662 Gryll14 April 1988
24695 Štyrský16 September 1990
14 September 1982
27 September 1984
29 September 1984
27 September 1984
2 September 1986
3 November 1986
14 October 1990
20 October 1985
4 October 1986
4 December 1986
4 November 1988
25 November 1986
22 September 1981
14 January 1988
14 October 1990
7 November 1986
3 October 1988
7 September 1989
25 January 1989
217628 Lugh17 April 1990