Richard A. Kowalski (born 1963) is an American

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, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

who has discovered numerous asteroids and

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 ...

s, among them, many

near-Earth objects A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...

. Kowalski has had a lifelong interest in astronomy with an emphasis on planetary science. As an amateur in Florida during the 1990s he developed an interest in

astrometric Astrometry is a branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other celestial bodies. It provides the kinematics and physical origin of the Solar System and this galaxy, the Milky Way. His ...

and photometric observations of asteroids. He started the "Minor Planet Mailing List" in mid-1997. Kowalski discovered 14627 Emilkowalski in 1998. In 1999 he was invited to use the

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...

's 0.6-m Ritchey-Chrétien telescope to make observations in support of the

Deep Space 1 ''Deep Space 1'' (DS1) was a NASA technology demonstration spacecraft which flew by an asteroid and a comet. It was part of the New Millennium Program, dedicated to testing advanced technologies. Launched on 24 October 1998, the ''Deep Space ...

mission. Also in 1999 he was the Scientific Coordinator for the first Minor Planet Amateur-Professional Workshop at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. He has been a member of the

Catalina Sky Survey Catalina Sky Survey (CSS; obs. code: 703) is an astronomical survey to discover comets and asteroids. It is conducted at the Steward Observatory's Catalina Station, located near Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. CSS focuses on the search ...

(CSS) in Tucson, Arizona since September, 2005 and has discovered hundreds of near-Earth and

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 ...

asteroids along with thirteen comets. Of these,

periodic comet Periodic comets (also known as short-period comets) are comets with orbital periods of less than 200 years or that have been observed during more than a single perihelion passage (e.g. 153P/Ikeya–Zhang). "Periodic comet" is also sometimes used ...

226P/Pigott-LINEAR-Kowalski was the recovery of

Edward Pigott Edward Pigott (1753–1825) was an English astronomer notable for being one of the founders of the study of variable stars. Biography Son of the astronomer Nathaniel Pigott, Pigott's work focused on variable stars. Educated in France wit ...

's lost comet of 1783. Kowalski discovered the comet C/2013 US10 on Halloween morning, 2013. On October 6, 2008, while observing with the CSS 1.5 meter (60") telescope at

Mount Lemmon Observatory Mount Lemmon Observatory (MLO), also known as the Mount Lemmon Infrared Observatory, is an astronomical observatory located on Mount Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountains approximately northeast of Tucson, Arizona (US). The site in the Corona ...

, he discovered . Approximately 20 hours after its discovery this asteroid entered the Earth's atmosphere over Sudan, becoming the first asteroid discovered before impact with the earth. Kowalski was honored with a small piece of . On January 1, 2014, Kowalski found another impacting asteroid, this was designated

2014 AA 2014 AA was a small Apollo near-Earth asteroid roughly 2–4 meters in diameter that struck Earth on 2 January 2014. It was discovered on 1 January 2014 by Richard Kowalski at the Mount Lemmon Survey at an apparent magnitude of 19 using a reflect ...

. The impact zone for this asteroid was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The main-belt asteroid 7392 Kowalski is named in his honor. Kowalski is a

FAA The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

certified

commercial pilot A commercial pilot licence (CPL) is a type of pilot licence that permits the holder to act as a pilot of an aircraft and be paid for their work. Different licenses are issued for the major aircraft categories: airplanes, airships, balloons, glid ...

holding Instrument and

flight instructor A flight instructor is a person who teaches others to operate aircraft. Specific privileges granted to holders of a flight instructor qualification vary from country to country, but very generally, a flight instructor serves to enhance or evaluate ...

ratings. He also runs a free-lance photography studio in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

References

External links

Catalina Sky Survey
home page *

made the night 2008 TC3 was discovered
Minor Planet Mailing List

Full Moon Photography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kowalski, Richard A. 1963 births 20th-century American astronomers 21st-century American astronomers Discoverers of asteroids Discoverers of comets * Living people American people of Polish descent Commercial aviators Planetary scientists