Thomas Joel Bopp (October 15, 1949 – January 5, 2018) was an American
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 ...
. In 1995, he discovered
comet Hale–Bopp
Comet Hale–Bopp (formally designated C/1995 O1) is a comet that was one of the most widely observed of the 20th century and one of the brightest seen for many decades.
Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp discovered Comet Hale–Bopp separately ...
;
Alan Hale discovered it independently at almost the same time, and it was thus named after both of them. At the time of the
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 ...
discovery he was a manager at a
construction materials factory and an 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 ...
. On the night of July 22, Bopp was observing the sky with friends in the
Arizona desert
The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Arizona ...
when he made the discovery. It was the first comet he had observed and he was using a borrowed, home-built telescope.
[
]
Early life and education
Thomas Bopp was born October 15, 1949 in Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
, Colorado. The following year his family relocated to Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County, Ohio, Mahoning County. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of ...
. It was there that, at the age of three, his father Frank Bopp[ introduced him to astronomy on the porch steps of the family home as they watched a meteor shower.][ Frank began to teach him about planets, constellations and the aurora borealis.] At the age of ten he received his first telescope, a four-inch reflector.
Bopp attended Chaney High School
Chaney High School is a public high school in Youngstown, Ohio, Youngstown, Ohio, United States. It is one of four secondary schools in the Youngstown City School District. Athletic teams compete as the Chaney Cowboys and Cowgirls in the Ohio High ...
and graduated in 1967. He joined the United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
and served in the Philippines where several times he observed the green flash, an optical phenomenon which occurs just before sunset above the setting sun.[ After 18 months of service he was moved to Davis–Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, where he met his wife-to-be Charlotte.][ He left the air force in 1972.][ The couple soon married and had a daughter, April.][
Bopp then attended Youngstown State University and studied business administration. While attending the university, he had access to the physics and astronomy departments and took their classes as part of the elective elements of his education.][ It was here he met ]Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
astrophysicist Dr. Edwin Bishop and Youngstown State emeritus professor of Astronomy Dr. Warren Young, who encouraged him to join the Mahoning Valley Astronomical Society (MVAS) in Warren, Ohio
Warren is a city in and the county seat of Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. Located in northeastern Ohio, Warren lies approximately northwest of Youngstown and southeast of Cleveland. The population was 39,201 at the 2020 census. The his ...
. He regularly attended meetings and became friends with astronaut Ronald A. Parise
Ronald Anthony Parise (May 24, 1951 – May 9, 2008) was an Italian American scientist who flew aboard two NASA Space Shuttle missions as a payload specialist.
Parise was born in Warren, Ohio to Henry and Catherine Parise (nee Pasha). By age 11, ...
and enjoyed observing deep sky objects
A deep-sky object (DSO) is any astronomical object that is not an individual star or Solar System object (such as Sun, Moon, planet, comet, etc.). The classification is used for the most part by amateur astronomers to denote visually observed f ...
with the club's 16" Newtonian reflector telescope.[
]
Discovery of comet Hale–Bopp
In 1980 Bopp moved to Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...
, to work in the parts department of a construction company and continued to attend astronomy clubs in the local area. He joined the North Phoenix Alternative Astronomical Society, an unofficial group of enthusiasts founded by Kevin Gill who met up to observe in the Arizona desert. Despite multiple attempts, prior to 1995, Bopp had never observed a comet. At this time Bopp was making use of a telescope belonging to close friend Jim Stevens, a 17.5-inch reflecting telescope. On the night of July 22, 1995, eight members of the club met at an undisclosed spot near Vekol Ranch, ninety miles south of Phoenix and as usual Stevens and Bopp were sharing time looking through Stevens's telescope. Stevens had set up his newest home-built telescope[ and decided to look for ]globular clusters
A globular cluster is a spheroidal conglomeration of stars. Globular clusters are bound together by gravity, with a higher concentration of stars towards their centers. They can contain anywhere from tens of thousands to many millions of member ...
. Stevens lined up Messier 70 (M70) in the constellation Sagittarius and called Bopp over to look. At around 11 p.m. Bopp looked into the telescope and said, "What's this other object?"[ Stevens replied, "You might have something there, Tom."] Bopp later described what he saw as "a little fuzzy glow" which he initially believed to be a galaxy. On the same night, professional astronomer and experienced comet observer Alan Hale had spotted the same thing at his home in Cloudcroft, New Mexico, while he was killing time waiting for Comet d'Arrest
6P/d'Arrest (also known as d'Arrest's Comet or Comet d'Arrest) is a List of periodic comets, periodic Jupiter-family comet, Jupiter-family comet in the Solar System, orbiting between Mars and Jupiter. It passed from the Earth on August 12, 1976 ...
to appear.[ Bopp, on the other hand, had never seen a comet before.][ Bopp and his friends checked star charts and watched the object for an hour to determine whether it was moving. Bopp and another member of the group, Bertie Sanden, made drawings of its position in relation to other nearby dim stars][ and, on discovering the movement, Bopp attempted to contact the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams at the ]International Astronomical Union
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...
(IAU) in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
, the organization that records all astronomical sightings and names them, to officially log his findings. Discovering his cell phone had no coverage in the desert he drove towards home, stopping at a public payphone before realizing he did not have the phone number.[ At home again, Bopp finally reported the sighting by telegram to the IAU.][ Bopp had taken the institute's name literally and sent a telegram via Western Union. Hale had already sent three emails with the comet's coordinates.][
Bopp later acknowledged the chance discovery, The following morning at 8:25am the office of Brian Marsden, director of the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, called him back to confirm the sighting was indeed a comet.][ The comet was given the formal name Comet 1995 O1, and three days later its full title C/1995 O1 (Hale–Bopp),] designating the first comet found during the second half-month of July 1995. Hale's name precedes Bopp's because his was the first report to arrive. It is uncertain who was the first to discover it, as they both spotted it at around the same time. The following day Hale phoned Bopp to introduce himself with the words, "I think that we have something in common." When they met at a conference two months later, Bopp said to the press that he was glad that Hale "turned out to be a nice guy."[
]
After the discovery
After the discovery, Bopp was in demand on television and radio, and was invited to speak at conferences.[ One such appearance was on the children's science television show '']Bill Nye The Science Guy
''Bill Nye the Science Guy'' is an American science education television program created by Bill Nye, James McKenna, and Erren Gottlieb, with Nye starring as a fictionalized version of himself. It was produced by television station KCTS and McK ...
''. On March 21, 1997, Hale and Bopp were named ABC Person of the Week ABC Person of the Week is a feature of ABC World News Tonight that began in 1986 and was still running in 2021. It provides a short biography or story of an interesting person, at the end of the Friday night broadcast, thus having high prominence. ...
in the Friday night broadcast. Bopp has said that "I thought that it would be a comet that would be mentioned in the back of some obscure textbook somewhere, but it's certainly not turned out to be that way." As Hale–Bopp became more visible, Bopp left his job and became a full-time speaker and educator. He enjoyed presenting in schools, science centers and museums, enthusing children with astronomy,[ and met up with his co-discoverer Hale in ]Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
while taking a group of school children to see the 2012 eclipse in Australia.
At White Sands Missile Range in 1997 Bopp was invited to be an observer when an ultraviolet spectrograph
An optical spectrometer (spectrophotometer, spectrograph or spectroscope) is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify mate ...
was launched by Black Brant rocket
The Black Brant is a family of Canadian-designed sounding rockets originally built by Bristol Aerospace, since absorbed by Magellan Aerospace in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Over 800 Black Brants of various versions have been launched since they were firs ...
to observe the comet and look for argon and neon. Previously unobserved isotopes were discovered in addition to a third sodium tail.[ Bopp was awarded an honorary doctor of Science degree from Youngstown State University in 1998. Bopp and his father also became the first two members of the Friends of Ward Beecher Planetarium at the university.
In 1997, as comet Hale–Bopp reached its brightest point, Bopp's brother and sister-in-law were killed in a car accident after photographing the comet. "This has been the best week of my life. And the worst," Bopp told a ''National Geographic'' reporter.
Bopp and his father Frank have had an asteroid named after them, (7086) Bopp, discovered October 5, 1991, by ]Carolyn
Carolyn is a female given name, a variant of Caroline. Other spellings include Karolyn, Carolyne, Carolynn or Carolynne. Caroline itself is one of the feminine forms of Charles.
List of Notable People
*Carolyn Bennett (born 1950), Canadian pol ...
and Gene Shoemaker
Eugene Merle Shoemaker (April 28, 1928 – July 18, 1997) was an American geologist. He co-discovered Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 with his wife Carolyn S. Shoemaker and David H. Levy. This comet hit Jupiter in July 1994: the impact was televise ...
. In 1997, the Shoemakers, both famous for co-discovering comet Shoemaker–Levy 9, were involved in a car crash. Gene died in the crash and his ashes were sent to the Moon along with an image of Comet Hale-Bopp, "the last comet that the Shoemakers observed together."
In 1997, when Bopp pointed out the comet would soon disappear from view and would not be visible for another 2380 years, he said he would always continue looking up at the stars. He continued to volunteer at observatories near Phoenix, Arizona, towards the end of his life, speaking about Hale–Bopp. He died of liver failure on January 5, 2018, at the age of 68.
References
External links
Comet Hale-Bopp Homepage at JPL
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bopp, Thomas
1949 births
2018 deaths
Amateur astronomers
American astronomers
Discoverers of comets
People from Denver
People from Youngstown, Ohio
Military personnel from Colorado
Youngstown State University alumni
Deaths from liver failure