Editing Thomas Bopp

{{Short description|American astronomer (1949–2018)}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2016}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox person
|name=Thomas Bopp
|image=Bopp.jpg
|birth_date={{Birth date|1949|10|15|mf=y}}
|birth_place=[[Denver]], Colorado, U.S.
|death_date={{Death date and age|2018|01|05|1949|10|15|mf=y}}
|death_place=[[Phoenix, Arizona]], U.S.
|alma_mater=[[Youngstown State University]]
|occupation= [[Public speaking|Professional speaker]], [[amateur astronomer]]
| known_for     =Co-discovery of [[comet Hale–Bopp]] with [[Alan Hale (astronomer)|Alan Hale]]
}}

'''Thomas Joel Bopp''' (October 15, 1949 – January 5, 2018) was an American [[amateur astronomer]]. In 1995, he discovered [[comet Hale–Bopp]]; [[Alan Hale (astronomer)|Alan Hale]] discovered it independently at almost the same time, and it was thus named after both of them.<ref>Ramamurthy G. (August 2005). ''Biographical Dictionary of Great Astronomers'', Surah Books (pvt) Ltd., Chennai, {{ISBN|81-7478-697-X}}.</ref> At the time of the [[comet]] discovery he was a manager at a [[construction materials]] factory and an amateur [[astronomer]]. On the night of July 22, Bopp was observing the sky with friends in the [[Arizona desert]] when he made the discovery. It was the first comet he had observed and he was using a borrowed, home-built telescope.<ref name=natgeo2016/><ref name=ce2016/>

==Early life and education==
Bopp was born October 15, 1949, in [[Denver]], Colorado.<ref name=esp2016>{{cite web|title=Dr. Thomas Bopp|url=https://www.espeakers.com/marketplace/speaker/profile/4813/Dr-Thomas-Bopp|website=Espeakers|access-date=December 19, 2016}}</ref> The following year his family relocated to [[Youngstown, Ohio]]. It was there that, at the age of three, his father Frank Bopp<ref name=lvo2016/> introduced him to astronomy on the porch steps of the family home as they watched a meteor shower.<ref name=esp2016/> Frank began to teach him about planets, constellations and the [[aurora borealis]].<ref name="oc2016">{{cite web|last1=Anderson|first1=Scott R.|title=Introduction : Comet Hale-Bopp|url=http://www.opencourse.info/astronomy/introduction/22.interplanetary_debris/Hale-Bopp.html|website=Open Course|access-date=December 19, 2016}}</ref> At the age of ten he received his first telescope, a four-inch reflector.<ref name="lvo2016">{{cite web|title=Local notable people|url=http://www.libraryvisit.org/research/local-resources/local-notable-people/|website=The public library of Youngstown & Mahoning County|publisher=FDLP|access-date=December 19, 2016}}</ref>

Bopp attended [[Chaney High School]] and graduated in 1967.<ref>{{cite web|title=Chaney High School class of 1967|url=http://old-friends.co/class.php?s=16937&c=1967|website=Old Friends|access-date=December 19, 2016}}</ref> He joined the [[United States Air Force]] and served in the Philippines where several times he observed the [[green flash]], an optical phenomenon which occurs just before sunset above the setting sun.<ref name=oc2016/> After 18 months of service he was moved to [[Davis–Monthan Air Force Base]] in [[Tucson]], Arizona, where he met his wife-to-be Charlotte.<ref name=esp2016/> He left the air force in 1972.<ref name=lvo2016/> The couple soon married and had a daughter, April.<ref name=esp2016/>
Bopp then attended [[Youngstown State University]] and studied business administration. While attending the university, he had access to the physics and astronomy departments and took their classes as part of the elective elements of his education.<ref name=lvo2016/> It was here he met [[Yale University]] astrophysicist Dr. Edwin Bishop and Youngstown State emeritus professor of Astronomy Dr. Warren Young,<ref>{{cite web|title=Physics and astronomy|url=http://web.ysu.edu/gen/stem/People_p722.html|website=Youngstown State University|access-date=December 19, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222090512/http://web.ysu.edu/gen/stem/People_p722.html|archive-date=December 22, 2016}}</ref> who encouraged him to join the Mahoning Valley Astronomical Society (MVAS) in [[Warren, Ohio]]. He regularly attended meetings and became friends with astronaut [[Ronald A. Parise]] and enjoyed observing [[deep sky objects]] with the club's 16" [[Newtonian reflector]] telescope.<ref name=esp2016/>

==Discovery of comet Hale–Bopp==
[[File:Comet Hale-Bopp.jpg|thumb|left|Comet Hale–Bopp]]
In 1980 Bopp moved to [[Phoenix, Arizona]], to work in the parts department of a construction company and continued to attend astronomy clubs in the local area. He joined the North Phoenix Alternative Astronomical Society, an unofficial group of enthusiasts founded by Kevin Gill who met up to observe in the Arizona desert.<ref name="ind2016">{{cite web|last1=Carlin|first1=John|authorlink=John Carlin (journalist)|title=Starry, starry knights|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/starry-starry-knights-1265621.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/starry-starry-knights-1265621.html |archive-date=May 7, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|website=Independent|date=April 5, 1997 |access-date=December 19, 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Despite multiple attempts, prior to 1995, Bopp had never observed a comet.<ref name="wapo_smith" /> At this time Bopp was making use of a telescope belonging to close friend Jim Stevens, a 17.5-inch reflecting telescope.<ref name="wp2016">{{cite news|last1=Friedl|first1=Blaine P.|title=How Hale and Bopp found their comet|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/1997/02/12/how-hale-and-bopp-found-their-comet/51bacf14-7b70-4bf4-98aa-7ebeae49889e/|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=December 19, 2016}}</ref> On the night of July 22, 1995, eight members of the club met at an undisclosed spot near Vekol Ranch, ninety miles south of Phoenix<ref name=ind2016/><ref name="hale2016">{{cite web|last1=Hale|first1=Alan|authorlink=Alan Hale (astronomer)|title=The Discovery of Comet Hale-Bopp|url=http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/comet/discovery.html|website=jpl.nasa.gov|publisher=NASA|access-date=December 19, 2016}}</ref> and as usual Stevens and Bopp were sharing time looking through Stevens's telescope. Stevens had set up his newest home-built telescope<ref name=ce2016/> and decided to look for [[globular clusters]].<ref name="pnt2016">{{cite web|last1=Ortega|first1=Tony|authorlink=Tony Ortega (journalist)|title=A Cosmic Blunder|url=http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/a-cosmic-blunder-6423910|website=Phoenix New Times|access-date=December 19, 2016}}</ref> Stevens lined up [[Messier 70|Messier 70 (M70)]] in the constellation [[Sagittarius (constellation)|Sagittarius]] and called Bopp over to look. At around 11&nbsp;p.m. Bopp looked into the telescope and said, "What's this other object?"<ref name=ind2016/> Stevens replied, "You might have something there, Tom."<ref name="natgeo2016">{{cite web|last1=Newcott|first1=William|title=The Age of Comets|url=http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system/comets-age/#page=3|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100111144309/http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system/comets-age/#page=3|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 11, 2010|website=National Geographic|access-date=December 19, 2016}}</ref> Bopp later described what he saw as "a little fuzzy glow" which he initially believed to be a galaxy.<ref name="wapo_smith">{{cite news|last1=Smith|first1=Harrison|title=Thomas Bopp, whose name was memorialized in a comet, dies at 68|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/thomas-bopp-whose-name-was-memorialized-in-a-comet-dies-at-68/2018/01/09/4e081bc6-f552-11e7-b34a-b85626af34ef_story.html|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=January 12, 2018}}</ref> On the same night, professional astronomer and experienced comet observer [[Alan Hale (astronomer)|Alan Hale]] had spotted the same thing at his home in [[Cloudcroft, New Mexico]], while he was killing time waiting for [[6P/d'Arrest|Comet d'Arrest]] to appear.<ref name=hale2016/> Bopp, on the other hand, had never seen a comet before.<ref name=natgeo2016/><ref name=sky2016/> Bopp and his friends checked star charts and watched the object for an hour to determine whether it was moving. Bopp and another member of the group, Bertie Sanden, made drawings of its position in relation to other nearby dim stars<ref name=pnt2016/> and, on discovering the movement, Bopp attempted to contact the [[Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams]] at the [[International Astronomical Union]] (IAU) in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], the organization that records all astronomical sightings and names them, to officially log his findings. Discovering his cell phone had no coverage in the desert he drove towards home, stopping at a public payphone before realizing he did not have the phone number.<ref name=ind2016/> At home again, Bopp finally reported the sighting by telegram to the IAU.<ref name=wp2016/> Bopp had taken the institute's name literally and sent a telegram via Western Union. Hale had already sent three emails with the comet's coordinates.<ref name=natgeo2016/>

Bopp later acknowledged the chance discovery

{{Cquote|text=I never seriously thought I would find anything like that. The chances of me discovering a bright comet, something that occurs once every 20 years or so, were astronomically small.<ref name="ce2016">{{cite web|title=Comet Hale-Bopp Puts on a Show|url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/comet-hale-bopp-puts-on-a-show/|website=The Canadian Encyclopedia|access-date=20 December 2016}}</ref>}}

The following morning at 8:25&nbsp;am the office of [[Brian G. Marsden|Brian Marsden]], director of the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, called him back to confirm the sighting was indeed a comet.<ref name=ce2016/> The comet was given the formal name Comet 1995 O1, and three days later its full title C/1995 O1 (Hale–Bopp),<ref name=wp2016/><ref name="IAU2016">{{cite web|last=Hale|first=A.|authorlink1=Alan Hale (astronomer)|author2=Bopp, T.|author3=Stevens, J.|title=IAU Circular No. 6187|publisher=[[International Astronomical Union|IAU]] |date=July 23, 1995|url=http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/iauc/06100/06187.html#Item1|access-date=July 5, 2011}}</ref> designating the first comet found during the second half-month of July 1995.<ref>{{cite web|last1=IAU|title=PRESS INFORMATION SHEET: Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp)|url=http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/pressinfo/HaleBopp.html|publisher=Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics|access-date=December 20, 2016}}</ref> Hale's name precedes Bopp's because his was the first report to arrive.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kidger|first1=Mark|title=Astronomical Enigmas|date=2005|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|isbn=0801880262|page=[https://archive.org/details/astronomicalenig00kidg/page/73 73]|url=https://archive.org/details/astronomicalenig00kidg|url-access=registration|access-date=December 20, 2016}}</ref> It is uncertain who was the first to discover it, as they both spotted it at around the same time.<ref name="sky2016">{{cite web|last1=Levy|first1=David H.|authorlink=David H. Levy|title=Riding on the comet's tail|url=https://business.highbeam.com/436983/article-1G1-19279786/riding-comet-tail|website=Sky & Telescope|access-date=December 21, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222082839/https://business.highbeam.com/436983/article-1G1-19279786/riding-comet-tail|archive-date=December 22, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> The following day Hale phoned Bopp to introduce himself with the words, "I think that we have something in common." When they met at a conference two months later, Bopp said to the press that he was glad that Hale "turned out to be a nice guy."<ref name=ind2016/>

==After the discovery==
[[File:Thomas Bopp, Fernbank auditorium.jpg|thumb|upright|Thomas Bopp at [[Fernbank Museum of Natural History]] auditorium, 2010]]
After the discovery, Bopp was in demand on television and radio, and was invited to speak at conferences.<ref name=ind2016/> One such appearance was on the children's science television show ''[[Bill Nye The Science Guy]]''.<ref name="wapo_smith"/> On March 21, 1997, Hale and Bopp were named [[ABC Person of the Week]] in the Friday night broadcast.<ref>{{cite web|title=Person of the week|url=http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/PERSON-OF-THE-WEEK-ASTRONOMER-ALAN-HALE-amp-amp-THOMAS-BOPP/4d560731d3b748a28e6295bda432eeb8?|publisher=ABC News|access-date=December 21, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=PERSON OF THE WEEK (HALE AND BOPP) #172122|url=https://tvnews.vanderbilt.edu/broadcasts/172122|publisher=Television News archive|access-date=December 21, 2016}}</ref> Bopp has said that "I thought that it would be a comet that would be mentioned in the back of some obscure textbook somewhere, but it's certainly not turned out to be that way."<ref name="nbc2016">{{cite web|last1=Couric|first1=Katie|authorlink=Katie Couric|title=Thomas Bopp on Hale-Bopp|url=https://archives.nbclearn.com/portal/site/k-12/flatview?cuecard=43637|website=Today Show|publisher=NBC Universal|access-date=December 20, 2016}}</ref> As Hale–Bopp became more visible, Bopp left his job and became a full-time speaker and educator. He enjoyed presenting in schools, science centers and museums, enthusing children with astronomy,<ref name=nbc2016/><ref>{{cite web|last1=Melville|first1=Iain|last2=Howes|first2=Nick|title=The legend of SpaceFest V continues|url=http://astronomy.fm/2013/06/29/the-legend-of-spacefest-v-continues/|website=Under British Skies|publisher=Astronomy FM|access-date=December 20, 2016}}</ref> and met up with his co-discoverer Hale in [[Queensland]] while taking a group of school children to see the 2012 eclipse in Australia.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hale|first1=Alan|authorlink=Alan Hale (astronomer)|title=Comet Hale-Bopp Co-Discoverer Observes Total Solar Eclipse Down Under|url=http://onlinelearningtips.com/2013/01/03/comet-hale-bopp-co-discoverer-observes-total-solar-eclipse-down-under/|website=Online Learning Tips|publisher=American Public University|access-date=December 20, 2016|date=January 3, 2013}}</ref>
At [[White Sands Missile Range]] in 1997 Bopp was invited to be an observer when an ultraviolet [[spectrograph]] was launched by [[Black Brant (rocket)|Black Brant rocket]] to observe the comet and look for argon and neon. Previously unobserved isotopes were discovered in addition to a third sodium tail.<ref name=nbc2016/><ref>{{cite web|last1=Romo|first1=Rene|title=Scientists Reach Out to Comet|url=https://www.abqjournal.com/hale-bopp/1bopp3-25.htm|website=Albuquerque Journal|publisher=Journal Southern Bureau|access-date=December 21, 2016}}</ref> Bopp was awarded an honorary doctor of Science degree from [[Youngstown State University]] in 1998.<ref>{{cite web|title=YSU in 1998|url=http://www.maag.ysu.edu/Archives/level3_1998.html|publisher=Youngstown State University Archives|access-date=December 21, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706020103/http://www.maag.ysu.edu/archives/level3_1998.html|archive-date=July 6, 2010}}</ref> Bopp and his father also became the first two members of the Friends of Ward Beecher Planetarium at the university.<ref>{{cite web|title=1.1 Collaborative Projects: Campus and the Community|url=http://www.as.ysu.edu/98report/chap1.htm|publisher=Youngstown State University|access-date=December 21, 2016}}</ref>

In 1997, as comet Hale–Bopp reached its brightest point, Bopp's brother and sister-in-law were killed in a car accident after photographing the comet. "This has been the best week of my life. And the worst," Bopp told a ''National Geographic'' reporter.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system/comets-age/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180108175449/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/solar-system/comets-age/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 8, 2018 |title=The Age of Comets |publisher=[[National Geographic Society]] |date=December 2, 2009 |access-date=January 8, 2018}}</ref>
 
Bopp and his father Frank have had an asteroid named after them, [[List of minor planets: 7001–8000#086|(7086) Bopp]], discovered October 5, 1991, by [[Carolyn S. Shoemaker|Carolyn]] and [[Eugene Merle Shoemaker|Gene Shoemaker]].<ref>{{cite web|title=7086 Bopp (1991 TA1)|url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?orb=1;sstr=7086|website=JPL Small-Body Database Browser|publisher=NASA|access-date=December 20, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Schmadel|first1=Lutz D.|authorlink=Lutz D. Schmadel|title=Dictionary of Minor Planet Names|date=2012|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-3642297182|page=555|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aeAg1X7afOoC&pg=PA555|access-date=December 20, 2016}}</ref> In 1997, the Shoemakers, both famous for co-discovering [[comet Shoemaker–Levy 9]], were involved in a car crash. Gene died in the crash and his ashes were sent to the Moon along with an image of Comet Hale-Bopp, "the last comet that the Shoemakers observed together."<ref>{{cite web|title=Eugene Shoemaker Ashes Carried on Lunar Prospector|url=http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/news82.html|website=www2.jpl.nasa.gov|publisher=News Services, University of Arizona}}</ref>

In 1997, when Bopp pointed out the comet would soon disappear from view and would not be visible for another 2380 years, he said he would always continue looking up at the stars.

{{Cquote|text=I'll never give up looking at the skies. There's so many beautiful things there. And I love to share that with people.<ref name=nbc2016/>}} He continued to volunteer at observatories near Phoenix, Arizona, towards the end of his life, speaking about Hale–Bopp.<ref name="wapo_smith"/> He died of [[liver failure]] on January 5, 2018, at the age of 68.<ref name="wapo_smith"/>

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/comet/ Comet Hale-Bopp Homepage at JPL]
* [http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/comet/timeline.html Comet Hale–Bopp Timeline – 1997]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bopp, Thomas}}
[[Category:1949 births]]
[[Category:2018 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American astronomers]]
[[Category:Amateur astronomers]]
[[Category:Deaths from liver failure]]
[[Category:Discoverers of comets]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Colorado]]
[[Category:People from Denver]]
[[Category:People from Youngstown, Ohio]]
[[Category:Youngstown State University alumni]]