Quick Facts
Biography
Donald Edward Machholz, born October 7, 1952 in Portsmouth, Virginia, is an American amateur astronomer who is the most successful living visual comet discoverer in the world. Credited with the discovery of 11 comets, that include the periodic comets 96P/Machholz, 141P/Machholz, the non-periodic C/2004 Q2 (Machholz) that were visible with binoculars in the northern sky in 2004 and 2005, and most recently, C/2010 F4 (Machholz). 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 also considered to be one of the inventors of the Messier marathon, which is a race to observe all the Messier objects in a single night.
Awards
- 1978 Tuthill Comet Award Roger Tuthill for discovering Comet Machholz (1978L)
- 1985 Tuthill Comet Award Roger Tuthill for discovering Comet Machholz (1986e)
- 1986 Tuthill Comet Award Roger Tuthill for discovering Periodic Comet Machholz 1 (1986e)
- 1994 Walter H. Haas Award Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers
- 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
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 and screenwriter, Michele AnneLouise Machholz.