Georg Karl Friedrich Kunowsky (3 March 1786 –23 December 1846) was a German
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...
who was also a talented 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, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...
.
He made observations of
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
with an 11 cm
achromatic refractor telescope made by
Joseph von Fraunhofer
Joseph Ritter von Fraunhofer (; ; 6 March 1787 – 7 June 1826) was a German physicist and optical lens manufacturer. He made optical glass, an achromatic telescope, and objective lenses. He also invented the spectroscope and developed diffract ...
, which was one of the first times that achromatic refractors were used for
planet
A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...
ary observation; these were a notable improvement over the
reflectors available to earlier observers.
Like
William Herschel before him, he came to the correct conclusion that the visible patches on Mars were surface features rather than clouds or other transient features. Observers like
Johann Hieronymus Schröter had come to the opposite conclusion.
He also made observations of the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
, and was one of a number of astronomers to independently discover the return of
Comet Halley
Halley's Comet or Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, is a List of periodic comets, short-period comet visible from Earth every 75–79 years. Halley is the only known short-period comet that is regularly visible to the naked eye fr ...
in 1835.
Kunowsky crater Kunowsky may refer to:
* Georg Karl Friedrich Kunowsky (1786–1846), a German lawyer and amateur astronomer; and objects named after him:
** Kunowsky (lunar crater)
** Kunowsky (Martian crater)
{{geodis ...
on the Moon and another
crater on Mars were named in his honour.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kunowsky, Georg Karl Friedrich
1786 births
1846 deaths
19th-century German astronomers