Johann Palisa

Johann Palisa
Born	(1848-12-06)December 6, 1848 Troppau
Died	May 2, 1925(1925-05-02) (aged 76)
Nationality	Austrian
Fields	astronomy
Institutions	University of Vienna
Known for	asteroids
Notable awards	Lalande Prize, 1876 Valz Prize, 1906

Johann Palisa (December 6, 1848 – May 2, 1925) was an Austrian astronomer, born in Troppau in Austrian Silesia (now in the Czech Republic).

He was a prolific discoverer of asteroids, discovering 122 in all, from 136 Austria in 1874 to 1073 Gellivara in 1923. Some of his notable discoveries include 153 Hilda, 216 Kleopatra, 243 Ida, 253 Mathilde, 324 Bamberga, and the Amor asteroid 719 Albert.

The minor planet 914 Palisana and the lunar crater Palisa were named in his honour. He was awarded the Valz Prize from the French Academy of Sciences in 1906.^[1]

Early work

A view of the City of Pula

From 1866 to 1870, Palisa studied mathematics and astronomy at the University of Vienna; however, he did not graduate until 1884. Despite this, by 1870 he was an assistant at the University's observatory, and a year later gained a position at the observatory in Geneva. A few years later, in 1872, at the age of 24, Palisa became the director of the Austrian Naval Observatory in Pula. While at Pula, he discovered his first asteroid, 136 Austria, on March 18, 1874. Along with this, he discovered twenty-seven minor planets and one comet. During his stay in Pula he used a small six-inch refractor telescope to aid in his research.

Astronomy discoveries

Between 1874 and 1923 Palisa discovered 122 asteroids ranging from 136 Austria to 1073 Gellivara.^[2] He worked from Pola and Vienna.^[2] He also discovered the comet C/1879 Q1 in the year 1879.^[2] 14309 Defoy has a higher mp number but was discovered in 1908 by Palisa.^[2]

One of his discoveries was 253 Mathilde,^[2] which was visited by the spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker on June 27, 1997^[3] The robotic probe passed within 1200 km of Mathilde at 12:56 UT at 9.93 km/s, returning imaging and other instrument data including over 500 images which covered 60% of Mathilde's surface.^[3]

253 Mathilde as imaged by NEAR, less than 110 years after discovered by Palisa

Reference

External links

• Herbert Raab. "Johann Palisa, the most successful visual discoverer of asteroids" (PDF). 
• Portraits of Johann Palisa from the Lick Observatory Records Digital Archive, UC Santa Cruz Library's Digital Collections

Obituaries

• von Hepperger, J. (November 1925). "Anzeige des Todes von Johann Palisa". Astronomische Nachrichten (in German) 225 (7): 125–127. Bibcode:1925AN....225..125V. doi:10.1002/asna.19252250706.