Editing Josep Comas i Solà

{{Short description|Spanish astronomer}}
[[File:Josep Comas Sola.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Josep Comas i Solà]]

{| class="wikitable collapsible floatright" style="font-size: 0.9em;"
! colspan="2" style="white-space: nowrap;" | [[Asteroid]]s discovered: 11&thinsp;<ref name="MPC-Discoverers" />
|-
| [[804 Hispania]] || March 20, 1915
|-
| [[925 Alphonsina]] || January 13, 1920
|-
| [[945 Barcelona]] || February 3, 1921
|-
| [[986 Amelia]] || October 19, 1922
|-
| [[1102 Pepita]] || November 5, 1928
|-
| [[1117 Reginita]] || May 24, 1927
|-
| [[1136 Mercedes]] || October 30, 1929
|-
| [[1188 Gothlandia]] || September 30, 1930
|-
| [[1626 Sadeya]] || January 10, 1927
|-
| [[1655 Comas Solà]] || November 28, 1929
|-
| [[1708 Pólit]] || December 1, 1929
|}

'''Josep Comas i Solà''' ({{IPA|ca|ʒuˈzɛp ˈkoməz i suˈla}};  [[Barcelona]] 17 December 1868 – 2 December 1937) was a Spanish ([[Catalan people|Catalan]]) astronomer, discoverer of [[minor planet]]s, [[comet]]s, and [[double stars]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=KHx45zPLRuYC&pg=PA61 ''Cassini at Saturn: Huygens results''], p. 31, p. 61</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=j3O47dxrDAQC&pg=PR14 ''Titan''], p. xiv</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=CBx9KDH1qaYC&pg=PA9 ''Titan from Cassini–Huygens''], p. 9</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=IKnHwcOC-D4C&pg=PA419 ''The Cassini–Huygens mission: overview, objectives, and Huygens istrumentarium''], p. 419</ref>

He wrote his first astronomy notes at the age of ten, and was only fifteen when he published an article in a French specialist magazine.<ref>Baedeker's Barcelona Peter M. Nahm, Automobile Association (Great Britain) - 1992 "Josep Comas i Solà (1868–1937) Born in Barcelona, Josep Comas i Sola soon made his mark as an astronomer; he was only fifteen when he published an article in a French specialist magazine. "</ref>

He observed planets including [[Mars]] and [[Saturn]], measuring the rotation period of the latter. He wrote some books popularizing astronomy, and was first president of the [[Spanish and American Astronomical Society]] ({{langx|es|Sociedad Astrónomica de España y América|link=no}}; S.A.D.E.Y.A.). He discovered the periodic [[comet]] [[32P/Comas Solà]], and co-discovered the non-periodic comet [[C/1925 F1]] (Shajn-Comas Solà); he is also credited by the [[Minor Planet Center]] with the discovery of 11 asteroids during 1915–1930.<ref name="MPC-Discoverers" /> Comas i Solà is also credited with the discovery of the double star SOL 1.<ref name="El Observador de Estrellas Dobles" />

In 1905, Solà received the [[Prix Jules Janssen]], the highest award of the [[Société astronomique de France]], the French astronomical society. In 1908 he claimed to observe limb darkening of Saturn's moon [[Titan (moon)|Titan]], the first evidence that the body had an atmosphere.<ref name="Sola-and-Titan" /> He was the head of [[Fabra Observatory]] since it was established in 1904.

The asteroids [[1102 Pepita]] (from his nickname ''Pepito'')<ref name="springer-1102-Pepita" /> and [[1655 Comas Solà]] are named after him,<ref name="springer-1655-Comas-Sola" /> as is [[Comas Sola (crater)|Comas Sola crater]] on Mars.<ref name=deVaucouleurs1975/>

== References ==
{{reflist
|refs=

<ref name="springer-1102-Pepita">{{cite book
  |title      = Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (1102) Pepita
  |last       = Schmadel | first = Lutz D.
  |publisher  = Springer Berlin Heidelberg
  |page       = 94
  |date       = 2007
  |isbn       = 978-3-540-00238-3
  |doi       = 10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_1103 |chapter       = (1102) Pepita }}</ref>

<ref name="springer-1655-Comas-Sola">{{cite book
  |title      = Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – (1655) Comas Solá
  |last       = Schmadel | first = Lutz D.
  |publisher  = Springer Berlin Heidelberg
  |pages      = 131–132
  |date       = 2007
  |isbn       = 978-3-540-00238-3
  |doi       = 10.1007/978-3-540-29925-7_1656 |chapter       = (1655) Comas Solá }}</ref>

<ref name="MPC-Discoverers">{{cite web
  |title      = Minor Planet Discoverers (by number)
  |work       = Minor Planet Center
  |url        = http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/lists/MPDiscsNum.html
  |date       = 20 June 2016
  |accessdate = 8 August 2016}}</ref>

<ref name="Sola-and-Titan">{{cite book
  |title      = Encyclopedia of the Solar System
  |author     = Tilman Spohn
  |publisher  = [[Elsevier]]
  |page       = 831
  |isbn       = 9780124158450
  |url        = https://books.google.com/books?id=0bEMAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA831
  |date       = 2014
  |accessdate = 8 August 2016}}</ref>

<ref name= "El Observador de Estrellas Dobles">{{cite web
|url       = http://www.infoastro.com/dobles/oed10.pdf 
|title      = El Observador de Estrellas Dobles n.10
|date       = 2013
|accessdate = 3 July 2017}}</ref>

<ref name=deVaucouleurs1975>{{cite journal
 | title=The new Martian nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union
 | display-authors=1 | last1=de Vaucouleurs | first1=G.
 | last2=Blunck | first2=J. | last3=Davies | first3=M.
 | last4=Dollfus | first4=A. | last5=Koval | first5=I. K.
 | last6=Kuiper | first6=G. P. | last7=Masursky | first7=H.
 | last8=Miyamoto | first8=S. | last9=Moroz | first9=V. I.
 | last10=Sagan | first10=Carl | last11=Smith | first11=Bradford
 | journal=Icarus | volume=26 | issue=1
 | date=September 1975 | pages=85–98
 | doi=10.1016/0019-1035(75)90146-3 | bibcode=1975Icar...26...85D }}</ref>

}} <!-- end of reflist -->

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100620000851/http://www.astrogea.org/ipa/galeria/comas-sola/index.html Josep Comas i Solà at astrogea.org] {{small|(in Catalan)}}
* [http://blogs.libertaddigital.com/almanaque-de-la-historia-de-espana/1915-descubrimiento-del-primer-asteroide-por-cientificos-espanoles-9291/ 1915: Descubrimiento del primer asteroide por científicos españoles]
* [http://quark.prbb.org/26/026082.htm Josep Comas i Solà: divulgador científico] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017075550/http://quark.prbb.org/26/026082.htm |date=2014-10-17 }}
* [http://www.alpoma.net/tecob/?p=4740 José Comas y Solá, un barcelonés con estrella]
* [https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/ccivics/vil.laurania/p/30563/espai-expositiu-josep-comas-i-sola Vil·la Urània de Josep Comas i Solà]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20151117023749/http://mtvo-bcn.blogspot.nl/2011/07/jose-comas-i-sola-astronomo30-de.html José Comas i Solá, astrónomo]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Comas i Sola, Josep}}
[[Category:1868 births]]
[[Category:1937 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Spanish astronomers]]
[[Category:Astronomers from Catalonia]]
[[Category:Discoverers of asteroids]]
[[Category:Discoverers of comets]]
[[Category:Scientists from Barcelona]]
[[Category:19th-century Spanish astronomers]]