August Kopff (February 5, 1882 – April 25, 1960) was a German

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, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

and discoverer of several

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...

s and

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

s. Kopff studied and worked in Heidelberg, getting his PhD there in 1906 and he then joined the

Humboldt University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

where he became the Director of the Institute for Astronomical Calculation. He discovered some comets, including periodic comet 22P/Kopff and the non-periodic C/1906 E1. He discovered a number of asteroids, including notably the

Trojan asteroid In astronomy, a trojan is a small celestial body (mostly asteroids) that shares the orbit of a larger body, remaining in a stable orbit approximately 60° ahead of or behind the main body near one of its Lagrangian points and . Trojans can sha ...

617 Patroclus 617 Patroclus ( ) is a large binary Jupiter trojan asteroid. It is a dark D-type asteroid and a slow rotator, due to the 103-hour orbital period of its two components. It is one of five Jovian asteroids targeted by the ''Lucy'' space probe, and ...

and

624 Hektor 624 Hektor is the largest Jupiter trojan and the namesake of the Hektor family, with a highly elongated shape equivalent in volume to a sphere of approximately 225 to 250 kilometers diameter. It was discovered on 10 February 1907, by astronomer ...

. The lunar crater '' Kopff'' is named after him, as is the asteroid 1631 Kopff. Minor planet 805 Hormuthia is named after his wife, Hormuth.

List of discovered minor planets

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kopff, August 1882 births 1960 deaths 20th-century German astronomers Discoverers of asteroids Discoverers of comets Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences Scientists from Heidelberg People from the Grand Duchy of Baden Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin