William A. Bradfield, 1928-2014.
There's many sad faces in the astronomical community at the moment due to the passing away of Bill Bradfield after a long battle with illness on 9th June.
Bill Bradfield is history's most prolific visual comet hunter, credited with the discovery of 18 comets visually between 1972 and 2004- six more than any other amateur astronomer alive. He was a rarity and in a class of his own using nothing but his eyes and a homemade telescope.
Between 1995 and his last comet discovery in 2004 (comet 2004 F4 Bradfield) there was a nine year spell involving 900 hours of searching. Not surprising, as by this stage, computerised searches using digital equipment were making it difficult for people like Bradfield to find their own comets. In fact, for that 16 month period during January 2003 and May 2004, he was only one of two people in the world to have outsmarted those robots.
That final comet discovery in 2004 earned him the prestigious Edgar Wilson award for amateur comet discovery. Not forgetting he was also made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1989 and had an asteroid officially named after him during his successful amateur career.
Finally, I'd like to add this excerpt from:
http://auklanddrive.org/Astronomy/ASV/Solar%20System/A%20Talk%20by%20Bill%20Bradfield.html
In reply to a question from the audience whether he usually follows up on composition and orbit of his “dirty snowball” discoveries, he confesses “I prefer to spend my time looking for another one. There are lots of people around that like to trace the development of these ‘ghosts of the Solar System’, work out their orbits and note whether they're getting bigger or are developing a tail". The acclaim of the scientific world for his uncanny knack for visually discovering comets he modestly puts down to "having a good eye. But”, he admits, “I was really excited with this last one for, after going for 9 years without a discovery it proved I still do have it”. The figures speak for themselves: eighteen comets over a 32-year time span comes out to an average of one new discovery about every 21 months.
And finally on an end note, if you'd like some tips on comet hunting, take a look at Bill's article for the Astronomical Society of South Australia:
https://www.assa.org.au/resources/comets-meteors-satellites/comet-hunting/
An (oh!) a very cool pic of his last comet, C2004 F4 Bradfield taken in April 2004 by Michael Jäger and Gerald Rhemann can be seen here: http://cometography.com/lcomets/2004f4.html
R.I.P Bill Bradfield.
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/05/11/1084041389086.html?from=storylhs
(via and thanks to Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium)
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/2004-comet-award-winners/
他一生一共發現了18顆彗星，全部係目視發現。（以上资料由许文韬提供）
C/2004 F4 (Bradfield)
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