Kamil Hornoch

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Kamil Hornoch at the Ondřejov Observatory
Kamil Hornoch at the Ondřejov Observatory

Kamil Hornoch IPA: ['kamɪl 'ɦornox] (born 5 December 1972) is a Czech amateur astronomer, and a member of the Czech Astronomical Society. He lives in Lelekovice, a village in the South Moravian Region, the Czech Republic.[1]

Contents

[edit] Astronomy

Kamil Hornoch became interested in astronomy in 1984. One year later he started with his scientific observations of comets, meteors, the solar photosphere, variable stars, the planets and occultations.[1]

He makes most of his observations from a small observatory in Lelekovice with a 35 cm (13.8 in) reflector telescope.[2] Although he uses a CCD camera, he is also good in visual estimates of star luminosity, reaching an accuracy of 0.03 magnitude (confirmed by separate photoelectric measurements). He has also been acknowledged for his numerous estimates and measurements of brightness and positions of comets and variable stars, as well as position measurements of minor planets.[3] In 1993 he co-discovered (with Jan Kyselý) new variable star ES UMa.[4]

[edit] Novae

In the summer of 2002, Hornoch took a series of pictures of the surrounding of the core of the Andromeda Galaxy and discovered his first extragalactic nova.[1] Since that time, galaxy M31 has become his favourite place to observe; he has made 43 nova discoveries and co-discoveries in that region (as of May 2007).[5] He also discovered two novae in the galaxy M81 in pictures taken by Czech astronomer Pavel Cagaš with his 26.5 cm (10.4 in) reflector telescope on 8 and 11 April 2007. No nova discovery had been made with such a small telescope in such a distance before. One of the novas, M81 2007 3, grew very luminous, reaching the quite extraordinary absolute magnitude of -10 and apparent magnitude of 17.6 six days later. It was the brightest nova ever discovered in M81. [6] [7]

[edit] Acknowledgement

In 1996 Kamil Hornoch became the first person to receive the newly established Zdeněk Kvíz Award of the Czech Astronomical Society for his activities in the field of interplanetary matter.[8] In 2001 Lenka Šarounová named the main belt asteroid 14124 Kamil in his honour.[9] In 2003 he received the Jindřich Šilhán Award of the Variable Star Observer of the Year (Czech: Cena Jindřicha Šilhána Proměnář roku) of the Czech Astronomical Society.[10] In 2006 Kamil Hornoch won the Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Grygar, Jiří. Úspěch českého astronoma amatéra a o českých novách. Amatérská prohlídka oblohy. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
  2. ^ Lelekovice astronomers homepage. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
  3. ^ a b 2006 ASP Annual Award Winners - Amateur Achievement Award - Kamil Hornoch. Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
  4. ^ Nové proměnné hvězdy objevené v ČR (Czech). Czech Astronomical Society. Retrieved on 2007-09-18.
  5. ^ New Nova in the M31 Andromeda Galaxy Found. CCD cameras for astronomy. Moravian Instruments, Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
  6. ^ Cagaš, Pavel. Objevy nov v galaxii M81 (Czech). Czech Astronomical Society. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
  7. ^ Novae discovered in M81 galaxy using G2-3200 CCD camera on 10 inch telescope. CCD cameras for Astronomy. Moravian Instruments, Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
  8. ^ Cena Zdeňka Kvíze (Czech). Czech Astronomical Society. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
  9. ^ JPL Small-Body Database Browser Search: 14124 Kamil. Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.
  10. ^ Cena Jindřicha Šilhána Proměnář roku (Czech). Department of Variable Star Observers of the Czech Astronomical Society. Retrieved on 2007-09-16.
Persondata
NAME Hornoch, Kamil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Czech amateur astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH 5 December 1972
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Preceded by
Tim Hunter		 Amateur Achievement Award of Astronomical Society of the Pacific
2006		 Succeeded by
Peter Francis Williams
Languages