Robert H. McNaught (born in Scotland in 1956) is a Scottish-Australian

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 ...

at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

(ANU). He has collaborated with David J. Asher of the

Armagh Observatory Armagh Observatory is an astronomical research institute in Armagh, Northern Ireland. Around 25 astronomers are based at the observatory, studying stellar astrophysics, the Sun, Solar System astronomy and Earth's climate. In 2018, Armagh Obs ...

. The inner main-belt asteroid 3173 McNaught, discovered by Edward Bowell at Anderson Mesa Station in 1981, was named after him by its discoverer, following a suggestion by David Seargent.

Work

McNaught is a prolific discoverer of

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 ...

s, described as "the world's greatest comet discoverer" and he participated in the

Siding Spring Survey The Siding Spring Survey (SSS) was a near-Earth object search program that used the 0.5-metre Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, New South Wales, Australia. It was the southern hemisphere counterpart of the Catali ...

(SSS) using the ANU's

Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope The Uppsala Schmidt Telescope is a Schmidt telescope located in Australia. It was moved to Siding Spring Observatory from Mount Stromlo Observatory in 1982. The instrument has been used to study the galaxy, asteroids and comets. It was last dedi ...

. He discovered the Great Comet

C/2006 P1 Comet McNaught, also known as the Great Comet of 2007 and given the designation C/2006 P1, is a non-periodic comet discovered on 7 August 2006 by British-Australian astronomer Robert H. McNaught using the Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope. I ...

on 7 August 2006, the brightest comet in several decades, which became easily visible to the naked eye for observers in the Southern Hemisphere. The SSS was the only active professional

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). ...

survey in the Southern Hemisphere. The survey ended in 2013 after funding dried up. McNaught previously worked on the Anglo-Australian Near-Earth Asteroid Survey from 1990–1996.

Other work

McNaught worked at the University of Aston's satellite-tracking camera originally outside Evesham in 1982, thereafter at Herstmonceux and more recently at Siding Spring. In his spare time he successfully conducts patrols for

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 dramat ...

e, identifies images of prenovae and unusual variable stars on survey plates, measures their positions, makes astrometric observations of comets and minor planets and photometric observations of comets and novae. He also carries out extensive observational and computational work on meteors, as well as on occultations by minor planets.

Funding issues

In October 2011, partly due to changes in the exchange rate between the Australian and US dollars, Catalina Sky Survey of NASA had to end funding McNaught's southern survey, which used to cost $110,000 per year, ending the international cooperation in July 2012. The astronomer estimated that the survey needs $180,000 annually, plus a small one-time sum to fix the observatory dome. For several months the project was temporarily funded from the ANU, but in late 2012, the ANU advised that it could no longer support the program and that funds would not be available from January 2013.

Discoveries

List of cometary discoveries

In total, McNaught has discovered 82

Long-period

McNaught has discovered 44 ''long-period'' comets: * C/1987 U3 (a. k. a. 1987 XXXII, 1987b₁) * C/2005 E2 * C/2005 L2 * C/2005 L3 * C/2005 S4 * C/2006 B1 * C/2006 E1 * C/2006 K1 * C/2006 K3 * C/2006 L2 *

(Great Comet of 2007) * C/2006 Q1 * C/2007 K6 * C/2007 M1 * C/2007 P1 * C/2007 T1 * C/2007 Y2 * C/2008 A1 * C/2008 J4 * C/2009 F2 * C/2009 F4 * C/2009 F5 * C/2009 K5 *

C/2009 R1 C/2009 R1 (McNaught), one of more than fifty comets known as Comet McNaught, is a non-periodic comet discovered by British-Australian astronomer Robert H. McNaught on September 9, 2009, using the Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope at Siding Sp ...

* C/2009 T1 * C/2010 J2 * C/2011 C1 * C/2011 G1 * C/2011 L2 * C/2011 L3 * C/2011 N2 * C/2011 Q2 * C/2011 R1 * C/2012 C1 * C/2012 H2 * C/2012 K6 * C/2012 T4 * C/2012 Y3 *

C/2013 A1 C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) is an Oort cloud comet discovered on 3 January 2013 by Robert H. McNaught at Siding Spring Observatory using the Uppsala Southern Schmidt Telescope. At the time of discovery it was 7.2 AU from the Sun and locat ...

* C/2013 E1 * C/2013 F3 * C/2013 G2 * C/2013 G7 * C/2013 J3 * C/2013 O3

Short period

McNaught has discovered 26 ''short-period'' comets: * 191P/McNaught * 220P/McNaught * 254P/McNaught * 260P/McNaught * 278P/McNaught * P/2004 R1 (McNaught) * P/2005 J1 (McNaught) * P/2005 L1 (McNaught) * P/2005 Y2 (McNaught) * P/2006 G1 (McNaught) * P/2006 H1 (McNaught) * P/2007 H1 (McNaught) * P/2008 J3 (McNaught) * P/2008 O2 (McNaught) * P/2008 Y3 (McNaught) * P/2009 Q5 (McNaught) * P/2009 S2 (McNaught) * P/2009 U4 (McNaught) * P/2010 J5 (McNaught) * P/2011 L1 (McNaught) * P/2011 P1 (McNaught) * P/2011 Q3 (McNaught) * P/2012 O1 (McNaught) * P/2012 O2 (McNaught) * P/2012 O3 (McNaught) * P/2013 J2 (McNaught)

Co-discoveries

McNaught is the co-discoverer of the following comets: * P/Catalina-McNaught (a.k.a. P/2008 S1, 2008 JK) * P/McNaught-Hartley (a.k.a. P/1994 N2, 1994 XXXI, 1994n) * Comet McNaught-Hartley (a.k.a. C/1999 T1) * Comet McNaught-Tritton (a.k.a. C/1978 G2, 1978 XXVII) * Comet McNaught-Watson (a.k.a. C/1999 S2)

Groups

; Comets McNaught-Hughes: * C/1990 M1 (a.k.a. 1991 III, 1990g) *

130P/McNaught-Hughes Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number), the natural number following 12 and preceding 14 * One of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, 2013 Music * 13AD (band), an Indian classic and hard rock band Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * ...

(a.k.a. 1991 IX, 1991y) ; Comets McNaught-Russell: * C/1991 C3 (a.k.a. 1990 XIX, 1991g) * C/1991 Q1 (a.k.a. 1992 XI, 1991v) * C/1991 R1 (a.k.a. 1990 XXII, 1991w) * C/1993 Y1 (a.k.a. 1994 XI, 1993v) * 262P/McNaught-Russell (a.k.a. 1994 XXIV, 1994u)

List of discovered minor planets

As of 2016, Robert McNaught is credited by 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 T ...

with the discovery and co-discovery of 483

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 ...

during 1975–2005.

List of novae

* Nova Reticuli 2020

References

External links

Siding Spring Survey
{{DEFAULTSORT:McNaught, Robert H. 1956 births 21st-century Australian astronomers Scottish astronomers 20th-century Australian astronomers Discoverers of asteroids Discoverers of comets * Living people Scottish emigrants to Australia