Otto Kippes (23 July 1905 – 2 February 1994) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

and

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 ...

, born in Bamberg, Bavaria. He was acknowledged especially for his work in asteroid

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as ...

calculations, which brought him the Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 1991. In 1959, the Berlin Academy of Sciences awarded him the Leibniz Medal for his contributions in the identification of minor planets.http://www.nd-archiv.de/ausgabe/1959-07-03 Online. The

main belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...

asteroid 1780 Kippes was named in his honour. Kippes in turn had successfully proposed to name several asteroids after fellow amateur astronomers. He died on 2 February 1994 in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg ...

, Bavaria.

References

* * * * 1905 births 1994 deaths 20th-century German astronomers Amateur astronomers Catholic clergy scientists {{Germany-astronomer-stub

See also

References