Donald Machholz
Donald Edward Machholz, born October 7, 1952 in Portsmouth, Virginia, is an American amateur astronomer and science writer who is the most successful living visual comet discoverer. Credited with the discovery of 12 comets, that include the periodic comets 96P/Machholz, 141P/Machholz, the non-periodic C/2004 Q2 that were visible with binoculars in the northern sky in 2004 and 2005, C/2010 F4, and most recently C/2018 V1 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. Amateur astronomer Machholz utilizes a variety of methods in his comet discoveries, in 1986 using 29×130 binoculars he discovered 96P/Machholz.
Machholz is one of the inventors of the Messier Marathon, which is a race to observe all the Messier objects in a single night.Awards and Honors
- 1978 Tuthill Comet Award Roger Tuthill for discovering Comet Machholz
- 1985 Tuthill Comet Award Roger Tuthill for discovering Comet Machholz
- 1986 Tuthill Comet Award Roger Tuthill for discovering Periodic Comet Machholz 1
- 1994 Walter H. Haas Award Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers
- 1995 Machholz was the recipient of the G. Bruce Blair Medal
- 2000 Peggy Haas Service Award Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers Service to Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers
- 2005 Edgar Wilson Award Harvard's Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for discovering Comet Machholz C/2004 Q2
- 2010 Edgar Wilson Award Harvard's Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for discovering Comet Machholz C/2010 F4
- 2017 Asteroid 245983 Machholz discovered by Kazimieras Černis was named in honor of Donald Machholz in November 2017
- 2018 Edgar Wilson Award Harvard's Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory for discovering Comet C/2018 V1 Machholz-Fujikawa-Iwamoto
Comets Discovered
- 1978 Comet Machholz
- 1985 Comet Machholz
- 1986 Comet 96P/Machholz
- 1988 Comet Machholz
- 1992 Comet Tanaka-Machholz
- 1992 Comet Machholz
- 1994 Comet Nakamura-Nishimura-Machholz
- 1994 Comet 141P/Machholz 2
- 1994 Comet Machholz 1994r
- 2004 Comet Machholz
- 2010 Comet Machholz C/2010 F4
- 2018 C/2018 V1
Authored
- The Observing Guide to the Messier Marathon: A Handbook and Atlas
- Decade of Comets: A Study of the 33 Comets Discovered by Amateur Astronomers Between 1975 and 1984
- An observer's guide to comet Hale-Bopp: Making the most of Comet Hale-Bopp: when and where to observe Comet Hale-Bopp and what to look for
Personal life
In 2014 he married photojournalist, Michele Machholz and they reside in Wikieup, Arizona.
