John Broughton (born 1952) is an Australian amateur

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

and artist. He is among the most prolific discoverers of

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 ''minor ...

s worldwide, credited by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Funct ...

with more than a thousand discoveries made between 1997 and 2008. His observations are done at Reedy Creek Observatory , in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia. In 2002, Broughton was one of five astronomers to be awarded a " Gene Shoemaker NEO Grant" by the

Planetary Society The Planetary Society is an American internationally-active non-governmental nonprofit organization. It is involved in research, public outreach, and political space advocacy for engineering projects related to astronomy, planetary science, an ...

to support his work on near-Earth asteroids. The money enabled the purchase of a

CCD camera A charge-coupled device (CCD) is an integrated circuit containing an array of linked, or coupled, capacitors. Under the control of an external circuit, each capacitor can transfer its electric charge to a neighboring capacitor. CCD sensors are a ...

for use initially on a 10" SCT and later on a 20" f/2.7 automated telescope he designed and constructed, with first light occurring 10 April 2004. Asteroid 24105 Broughton was named in his honour in 2005, and he later won an Australian national award the 2008 Page Medal.

Discoveries and research

He is the discoverer of four

near-Earth object A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body orbiting the Sun whose closest approach to the Sun ( perihelion) is less than 1.3 times the Earth–Sun distance (astronomical unit, AU). This definition applies to the object's orbit a ...

s, two of which are

potentially hazardous asteroids A potentially hazardous object (PHO) is a near-Earth object – either an asteroid or a comet – with an orbit that can make close approaches to the Earth and which is large enough to cause significant regional damage in the Impact event, event ...

(PHA). Discovered 11 April 2004 on the first full night of operations with the 20" telescope,

Apollo asteroid The Apollo asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids named after 1862 Apollo, discovered by German astronomer Karl Reinmuth in the 1930s. They are Earth-crossing asteroids that have an orbital semi-major axis greater than that of the Ear ...

is one of only 157 known kilometer-size PHAs and the largest such discovery made by a non-professional astronomer. The short-period

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...

P/2005 T5 (Broughton) was discovered in October, 2005, followed nine months later by the hyperbolic comet C/2006 OF2 (Broughton) at a distant 7.7 AU from the sun and more than two years from reaching

perihelion An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides perta ...

. In 2003 he began observing asteroid occultations by taking trailed CCD exposures and measuring the resulting dips in brightness. Subsequently, he developed methods and applications to facilitate the observation, timing and analysis. By 2010 he had switched to using sensitive video cameras, and began designing telescopes better suited to multi-station field work than what is commercially available, culminating in collapsible alt-alt telescopes of moderate size, compact enough to take anywhere in the world in standard airline baggage. In 2011 he formulated a method to derive asteroid dimensions by integrating the results of separate occultations. The tables are periodically updated and now include over 500 asteroids.

List of discovered minor planets

References

External links

Mention of the Shoemaker Grant, and Broughton's discovery of

* ttp://www.asteroidoccultation.com/observations/DriftScan/ Drift-Scan Timing of Asteroid Occultations
Asteroid Dimensions From Occultations
{{DEFAULTSORT:Broughton, John 1952 births 20th-century Australian astronomers Amateur astronomers 21st-century Australian astronomers Discoverers of asteroids Discoverers of comets Living people

Discoveries and research

List of discovered minor planets

See also

References

External links