Malcolm Hartley

Malcolm Hartley (born 15 February 1947, Bury, Greater Manchester) is an English-born astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets and comets, who works with the UK Schmidt Telescope at the Siding Spring Observatory in Australia.[2][3][4]

Minor planets discovered: 3 [1]
(21374) 1997 WS2224 November 1997catalogue
(65674) 1988 SM29 September 1988catalogue
(251698) 1996 DJ18 February 1996catalogue

Career

Hartley is best known for his discovery and co-discovery of 10 comets since the 1980s, among them 79P/du Toit-Hartley, 80P/Peters–Hartley, 100P/Hartley, 110P/Hartley, and C/1984 W2.[3][5] Unfortunately for Hartley, in 2002, "the Anglo-Australian Observatory retrofitted its Schmidt to perform multi-object spectroscopy, essentially halting all astrophotography with the telescope and ending any future possibility for comet discovery".[5] In November 2010, he visited NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory facility in California to witness the EPOXI mission flyby of comet 103P/Hartley on 4 November 2010.[6]

Hartley is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of 3 asteroids made at the Siding Spring Observatory between 1996 and 1998, with (21374) 1997 WS22 and (65674) 1988 SM being near-Earth objects of the Amor group of asteroids.[1]

Awards and honours

The outer main-belt asteroid 4768 Hartley was named in his honour, being deputy astronomer of the UK Schmidt Telescope at Siding Spring, with which this minor planet was discovered.[3] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 27 June 1991 (M.P.C. 18464).[7]

See also

References
  1. "Minor Planet Discoverers (by number)". Minor Planet Center. 20 June 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  2. "Biographies – Malcolm Hartley". NASA–EPOXI. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  3. Schmadel, Lutz D. (2007). "(4768) Hartley". Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 411. doi:10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_4674. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3.
  4. Amos, Jonathan (4 November 2010). "Probe sweeps past 'space peanut'". BBC News. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  5. Talcott, Richard (20 September 2010). "Get ready for a naked-eye comet – Comet 103P/Hartley promises to be the brightest comet of 2010 when it peaks in October". Astronomy.com. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  6. "The Man Behind Comet Hartley 2 – Malcolm Hartley". Jet Propulsion Laboratory – News. 2 November 2010. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  7. "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
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