Luboš Kohoutek (29 January 1935 – 30 December 2023) was a Czech astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets and comets, including Comet Kohoutek which was visible to the naked eye in 1973. He also discovered a large number of planetary nebulae.

Biography

Kohoutek was born on 29 January 1935 to Hynek and Jarmila Kohoutek. His brother was the Czech composer Ctirad Kohoutek. Kohoutek was interested in astronomy since high school. He studied physics and astronomy at universities in Brno and Prague (finished 1958). Then he started to work in the Astronomical Institute of Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, where he published a well-cited catalogue (Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae, 1967). Kohoutek obtained a long term position at the Bergedorf Observatory in Hamburg. After the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia (1968) he decided to stay in West Germany (1970). His discoveries in the 1970s made him well-known in the media. In later years, Kohoutek worked in observatories in Spain and Chile, studying planetary nebulae. He officially retired in 2001, yet kept researching at the Hamburg-Bergedorf Observatory. Kohoutek published 162 scientific works. Kohoutek is most famous for his discovery of numerous comets, including periodic comets 75D/Kohoutek and 76P/West–Kohoutek–Ikemura, as well as the famously disappointing "Comet Kohoutek" (C/1973 E1). Kohoutek also discovered numerous asteroids, including the Apollo asteroid 1865 Cerberus. The main-belt asteroid 1850 Kohoutek was named after him. Kohoutek died on 30 December 2023, at the age of 88.

Discoveries

Kohoutek discovered supernova SN 1973f, 5 comets, and 76 minor planets.

List of discovered comets

List of discovered minor planets