EarthSky | Don Machholz, 1952-2022 earthsky.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from earthsky.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Don became interested in astronomy at age 8. He received first telescope on Oct. 7, 1965, a 2-inch (5cm) refractor. Later he received a 6-inch (15 cm) Criterion Dynascope and found all the Messier Objects in one year (1969-70). He decided to attempt a comet hunting program, which he began on Jan. 1, 1975, and found his first comet on Sept. 12, 1978, after 1700 hours of searching. His second find took an additional 1742 hours. He has now spent 8900 hours comet hunting during which he has discovered a total of 12 comets which bear his name. Don is the number one living visual comet discoverer. In 1978, Don was one of the independent inventors of the Messier Marathon, an attempt to find and view all 110 galaxies, clusters, and nebulae in one night. In the last 40 years he has completed over 50 Messier Marathons and has written two books on the subject. From 1978 through 2000, Don wrote a monthly column called "Comet Comments" for astronomy club newsletters and interested individ