Wolf Bickel (born 6 July 1942,
Bensberg) is a German amateur
astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...
and a prolific discoverer of
asteroids, observing at his private
Bergisch Gladbach Observatory, Germany. He is the most successful German
discoverer of minor planets
This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 nu ...
.
Biography
Bickel studied
electrical engineering at
RWTH Aachen University and finished his studies in 1969. He became enthusiastic about astronomy, when he received a celestial chart and
Galilean binoculars as a gift from his grandmother at the age of 16. Bickel began to grind parabolic mirrors to build his own telescopes. In 1995, he built a 0.6-meter aperture telescope and discovered his first
minor planet
According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''mino ...
, the main-belt asteroid the same year. He still uses this self-made telescope as of today.
He lives in
Bergisch Gladbach, in the
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...
–
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...
Region of
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...
, Germany. The
Minor Planet Center confused Bickel's home town with the location of his observatory, which is located 30 kilometers from his place of residence.
Bickel named
12564 Ikeller an asteroid of the
Koronis family, and his one and only named discovery after his wife, Ingeborg Bickel–Keller (b. 1941).
Honors and awards
The 12-kilometer sized asteroid
4324 Bickel, discovered by American astronomer Laurence Taff in 1981, was named in his honor.
Minor planet discoveries
Official MPC discoveries
As of 2017, he is credited by the
Minor Planet Center (MPC) with the discovery of 665 numbered minor planets during 1995–2010.
Comparison with German discoverers
In terms of total discoveries, Bickel is the most successful German discoverer of asteroids, ahead of (professional) astronomer
Freimut Börngen and the first
amateur astronomer
Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomers ...
to claim this honor in more than 150 years.
The comparison was published by Erwin Schwab in the journal of the German astronomical society "Vereinigung der Sternfreunde" in 2013, and applies a different metric than used by the MPC.
List
This is a list of Wolf Bickel's officially discovered (numbered) minor planets, as credited by the
Minor Planet Center.
References
External links
Bickel overtakes Börgen as most successful discoverer of minor planets (German), VdS-Journal Nr. 47
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bickel, Wolf
1942 births
21st-century German astronomers
Discoverers of asteroids
*
20th-century German astronomers
Living people