Gordon John Garradd (born 1959) is an Australian 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 ...

and photographer from Loomberah,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. He has discovered numerous

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 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 ar ...

s, including the hyperbolic comet C/2009 P1, and four

nova A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...

e in the

Large Magellanic Cloud The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), or Nubecula Major, is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. At a distance of around 50 kiloparsecs (≈160,000 light-years), the LMC is the second- or third-closest galaxy to the Milky Way, after the ...

. The asteroid and

Mars-crosser A Mars-crossing asteroid (MCA, also Mars-crosser, MC) is an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars. Some Mars-crossers numbered below 100000 are listed here. They include the two numbered Mars trojans 5261 Eureka and . Many databases, for i ...

, 5066 Garradd, was named in his honour. Comet-Garradd-Aug-2011

He has worked for a number of astronomical institutions in the US and Australia, most recently at

Siding Spring Observatory Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia, part of the Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) at the Australian National University (ANU), incorporates the Anglo-Australian Telescope along with a coll ...

on the Siding Spring Survey, part of the NASA-funded

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 ...

for

near-Earth object 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). ...

s (2002–2011). , the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

credits him with the discovery of 31

minor planets According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''mino ...

''(see table)''. There are 16 comets and an asteroid that bear his name. His cometary discoveries include 186P/Garradd (comet Garradd 1), a

Jupiter-family 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 (cometary), coma, and sometimes also a Comet ta ...

, and 259P/Garradd (comet Garradd 4), an

Encke-type 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 ...

. Garradd was born in Australia and lived his early life in Sydney, Canberra, Oberon, and Tamworth. Astronomy has been an interest since his childhood, and he has built many telescopes himself, starting with a 20 cm (8") f/7 Newtonian while still in high school, graduating to making mirrors up to 46 cm (18″) diameter and mounts up to the fork mount for the 46 cm f/5.4 Newtonian, and German equatorial mounted 25 cm (10") f/4.1 that he used for observing near-Earth asteroids and comets. His initial profession was as an accountant, but he left that in 1984 to pursue astronomy and photography full-time. He lives with his wife Hether, off the power grid, using solar and wind power. He is a photographer, mountain bike rider, and solar- and wind-power enthusiast.

References

External links

Garradd's web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garradd, Gordon J. 1959 births 20th-century Australian astronomers Discoverers of asteroids * Living people