Alphonse Louis Nicolas Borrelly (December 8, 1842 – February 28, 1926) was a French

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

born in Roquemaure, Gard. He joined the Marseille Observatory in 1864. In the course of his career, he discovered a number of

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

s and

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that warms and begins to release gases when passing close to the Sun, a process called outgassing. This produces an extended, gravitationally unbound atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma surrounding ...

s, including the periodic comet

19P/Borrelly Comet Borrelly or Borrelly's Comet (official designation: 19P/Borrelly) is a comet with a period of 6.85 years that was visited by the spacecraft Deep Space 1 in 2001. The comet last came to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on February ...

. He also discovered five NGC objects, all galaxies. The

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

awarded him the Prix Valz for 1903 and the Prix Lalande for 1909. The

1539 Borrelly was named in his honor. In 1913, he received the Prix Jules Janssen, the highest award of the Société astronomique de France, the French astronomical society.

Discoveries

Comets discovered or co-discovered

The following is an incomplete list of comets discovered or co-discovered by Borrelly: * C/1873 Q1 (Borrelly) * C/1877 C1 (Borrelly) * C/1877 G2 (Swift-Borrelly-Block) * C/1889 X1 (Borrelly) * C/1900 O1 (Borrelly–Brooks) *

* C/1909 L1 (Borrelly-Daniel) NGC objects discovered (all in 1871) * NGC 2268 * NGC 2300 * NGC 2715 * NGC 3933 * NGC 3934

References

External links

* ''Obituary'' 1842 births 1926 deaths 19th-century French astronomers 20th-century French astronomers Discoverers of asteroids Discoverers of comets Recipients of the Lalande Prize {{france-astronomer-stub