Michael Jäger (born 1958 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

) is an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

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 m ...

and discoverer of

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 ...

s. Since 1980, Jäger works as an editor for the newspaper ''

Kurier ''Kurier'' is a German-language daily newspaper based in Vienna, Austria. In 2023, it had an edition of approximately 103,000 copies. History and profile ''Kurier'' was founded as ''Wiener Kurier'' by the United States Forces in Austria (USFA) ...

''. From 2005, he led the

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

n editorial department, and since 2010, he leads the chronicle department. Since 1982, Jäger is engaged in the observation of comets. Until now (as of January 2015), he was able to record over 500 of these celestial bodies. On 28 August 1994, Jäger discovered a comet fragment that had separated from the comet 141P/Machholz. On 23 October 1998, he discovered the comet 290P/Jäger. In 1999, Jäger was awarded the

Edgar Wilson Award The Edgar Wilson Award is an annual international award established in 1998 consisting of a monetary award and a plaque allocated annually to amateur comet discoverers. It is administered by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) through t ...

for his discovery of a comet. In the same year, he became the first winner of the VdS Medal (''Vds Medaille''), awarded by the German '' Vereinigung der Sternfreunde''. In May 2004, the asteroid 78391 Michaeljäger was named in his honor. On 24 June 2014 Jäger was presented the Decoration of Honour in Silver of the province of Lower Austria for his journalistic work.Kurier: "Viel für das Land Niederösterreich geleistet"
(German). Retrieved 2015-01-18.

References

Austrian newspaper editors 20th-century Austrian astronomers Discoverers of comets 21st-century Austrian astronomers 1958 births Living people {{Austria-scientist-stub