astro.wikisort.org - Researcher

Gregg D. Thompson of Brisbane, Australia is an amateur astronomer.

Astronomy

Gregg Thompson was one of the founding members of the Southern Astronomical Society (SAS).[1] Before 1981 he started making a set of charts of bright galaxies, designed to help deep sky observers in their search for extragalactic supernovae.[2] In 1985 he received the Amateur Achievement Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, together with Robert Owen Evans,[3] who had made several supernova discoveries using Thompson's charts.[2] Evans wrote that the number of galaxies he was able to observe grew substantially after the charts were produced. Gregg Thompson also helped verify some of Evans' discoveries.[4]

Public outreach

In 1990 Gregg Thompson co-authored with James T. Bryan, Jr. the astronomical atlas The Supernova Search Charts and Handbook, containing 248 comparison charts of 345 of the brightest galaxies,[5] highly valued especially by supernova hunters and recommended by the Supernova Search Committee of the American Association of Variable Star Observers.[6] In 1993 he published The Australian Guide to Stargazing, a manual for both naked-eye and telescope observing of the sky of the southern hemisphere with explanatory diagrams, photographs and detailed drawings, describing the basics of the night sky observation to novice amateur astronomers.[7]

References

Preceded by Russell Merle Genet	Amateur Achievement Award of Astronomical Society of the Pacific (together with Robert Evans) 1985	Succeeded by Jean Meeus

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