My astronomical claim to fame!

[Andrew*]

talking of comets...

The girl I am to marry is the umpteenth great grand daughter of Georg Samuel Dörffel, a German astronomer who, like Messier himself, hunted comets with a telescope:

- he first described the parabolic nature of comets' orbits.

- he was the discoverer of none other than Halley's Comet!

- Asteroid 4076 Dörffel is named after him.

- Apparently, he also, before the time of Isaac Newton, considered the theory of gravity, though I cannot confirm this.

This Christmas I am going with her to Leipzig, Germany, where many Doerffels still live, and I intend to look in further detail into his research. It seems he was really quite an important man in Astronomy, and I'm the father of his umpteenth (+1) great grand-daughter!

Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside!

Andrew

[Milamber]

The girl I am to marry... and I'm the father of his umpteenth (+1) great grand-daughter!

:nono:

Arthur

[mik]

Thats a nice story Andrew be sure to study his research.

Mick.

[GazOC]

Congrats Andrew.

Wasn't Halleys comet on the Bayeux Tapestry though....

[Naz]

Congrats Andrew.

Wasn't Halleys comet on the Bayeux Tapestry though....

The ancient Chinese knew of it according to the link you posted Andrew.

Heck never mind, great to have a link like that in your family.

Congratulations to you and your fiancee.

naz

[Andrew*]

Sorry, I meant to say that it was telescopically discovered as it mentions further down the paragraph. Don't quite know what that really means, but hey - it sounds good!

Andrew

[The Warthog]

Well, yeah, but did he get a crater, eh?

[philsail1]

Great Family history there Andrew, and good luck with your research!

reagards,

philsail1