Zdeňka Vávrová (born 1945)
is a
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus
*Czech (surnam ...
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 ...
.
She co-discovered periodic
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 ...
134P/Kowal-Vávrová. She had observed it as an asteroid, which received the
provisional designation 1983 JG, without seeing any cometary
coma
A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...
. However, later images by
Charles T. Kowal showed a coma. 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.
Funct ...
credits her with the discovery of 115 numbered
minor planet
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 ''minor ...
s.
The
Florian main-belt asteroid
3364 Zdenka, discovered by
Antonín Mrkos
Antonín Mrkos () (27 January 1918 – 29 May 1996) was a Czech astronomer.
Biography
Mrkos entered the University in Brno in 1938. His studies were interrupted by the onset of World War II, and in 1945 he became a staff member at the Skalna ...
in 1984, was named in her honor and for the 20 years she had been participating in
Kleť Observatory's minor planet
astrometry
Astrometry is a branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other Astronomical object, celestial bodies. It provides the kinematics and physical origin of the Solar System and this galaxy, th ...
program.
Naming citation was published on 26 February 1994 ().
List of discovered minor planets
See also
*
References
External links
Zdenka Vávrová - Czech and Slovak comet discoverers
1945 births
Czechoslovak astronomers
Discoverers of asteroids
Discoverers of comets
*
Living people
Women astronomers
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