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Antonín Mrkos
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Antonín Mrkos (ˈantoɲiːn ˈmr̩kos; 27 January 1918 – 29 May 1996) was a Czech astronomer
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...

, born in Střemchoví
Střemchoví
Střemchoví is a district of Dolní Loučky.* 2811 Střemchoví, an asteroid, was named after this municipality.- Gallery :...

, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

.

Biography

Mrkos entered the University in Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...

 in 1938. His studies were interrupted by the onset of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, and in 1945 he became a staff member at the Skalnaté Pleso Observatory
Skalnaté Pleso Observatory
Observatórium Skalnaté pleso is an astronomical observatory in Slovakia. There is also a meteorological observatory. It is near Tatranská Lomnica and has IAU observatory code 056. The name means "Rocky Lake" .The observatory produced the popular sky atlas Skalnate Pleso Atlas of the Heavens by A...

 in Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

. It was from here that he carried out his extremely active cometary programme and became the discoverer of several unusual comets, the most famous of them the bright Comet 1957d.

He was the second Czech in Antarctica and the first Czechoslovak to reach the Southern pole of inaccessibility
as a member of the 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition
3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition
The Third Soviet Antarctic Expedition was led by Yevgeny Tolstikov on the continent; the marine expedition on the Ob was led by I V Maksimov....

 (1957–1959). The Czechoslovakian flag was the second flag raised after the flag of the USSR.
He returned to Antarctica as the head of the 4 member Czechoslovakian crew in the 7th Soviet Antarctic Expedition (1961 – 1963). He was studying aurora
Aurora (astronomy)
An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere...

s among other things.
He was invited for what would have been his third expedition to the Antarctic but couldn't participate because of an almost fatal accident. It's thought someone tried to injure or to kill him by adding a bottle of strongly concentrated detergent among his other bottles of mineral water. Since this accident he could only eat liquid meals for the rest of his life.

From 1966 to 1991 he was director of Kleť observatory
Klet Observatory
Kleť Observatory is an astronomical observatory in the Czech Republic. It is situated in South Bohemia, south of the summit of Mount Kleť, near the town of České Budějovice...

.
Beginning in 1968 he made photographic observations at Kleť and extended this activity to minor planets in 1977. For many years he was the most regular contributor of data to the
Minor Planet Center
Minor Planet Center
The Minor Planet Center operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory , which is part of the Center for Astrophysics along with the Harvard College Observatory ....

. He was President of Commission 6 during 1985-1988 (& Vicepresident during 1982 – 1985).

He discovered or co-discovered 13 comets
Comet Mrkos
Comet Mrkos may refer to any one of these comets discovered by Antonín Mrkos:* C/1947 Y1 * C/1952 H1 * C/1952 W1 * C/1955 L1 * C/1956 E1...

. Among these were the periodic comet
Comet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...

s 18D/Perrine-Mrkos
18D/Perrine-Mrkos
18D/Perrine–Mrkos is a periodic comet in our solar system, originally discovered by the American-Argentine astronomer Charles Dillon Perrine on December 9, 1896...

, 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova
45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova
45P/Honda–Mrkos–Pajdušáková is a short-period comet discovered by Minoru Honda December 3, 1948. The comet is named after Minoru Honda, Antonín Mrkos, and Ľudmila Pajdušáková. The comet is on a elliptical orbit with a period of 5.26 years. The comet nucleus is estimated to be 0.5-1.6 kilometers in...

, 124P/Mrkos and 143P/Kowal-Mrkos
143P/Kowal-Mrkos
-External links:*...

. He also discovered the bright non-periodic comet C/1957 P1 (or, in the nomenclature of the time, Comet 1957d). He discovered a number of asteroid
Asteroid
Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

s (273 in total), including the Amor asteroid
Amor asteroid
The Amor asteroids are a group of near-Earth asteroids named after the asteroid 1221 Amor. They approach the orbit of the Earth from beyond, but do not cross it. Most Amors do cross the orbit of Mars...

, 5797 Bivoj
5797 Bivoj
5797 Bivoj is an Amor asteroid discovered on January 13, 1980 by A. Mrkos at Klet.- External links :*...

, Trojan asteroid
Trojan asteroid
The Jupiter Trojans, commonly called Trojans or Trojan asteroids, are a large group of objects that share the orbit of the planet Jupiter around the Sun. Relative to Jupiter, each Trojan librates around one of the planet's two Lagrangian points of stability, and , that respectively lie 60° ahead...

, 3451 Mentor
3451 Mentor
3451 Mentor is a Jupiter Trojan discovered on April 19, 1984 by A. Mrkos at Klet.- External links :*...

 and 6758 Jesseowens
6758 Jesseowens
6758 Jesseowens is a main-belt asteroid discovered on April 13, 1980 by A. Mrkos at Klet.- External links :*...

 in honour of Jesse Owens
Jesse Owens
James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens was an American track and field athlete who specialized in the sprints and the long jump. He participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he achieved international fame by winning four gold medals: one each in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the...

. 1832 Mrkos
1832 Mrkos
1832 Mrkos is an outer main belt asteroid discovered on August 11, 1969 by L. Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory. It is named after the astronomer Antonín Mrkos.- External links :*...

 is named in his honor. He also named asteroid 2747 Český Krumlov
2747 Ceský Krumlov
2747 Český Krumlov is a small main belt asteroid, which was discovered by the Czech astronomer Antonín Mrkos in 1980. It is named after the historic Czech town of Český Krumlov....

 after the historic town of the same name
Český Krumlov
Český Krumlov is a small city in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic, best known for the fine architecture and art of the historic old town and Český Krumlov Castle...

.
Another Main-belt asteroid 3357 Tolstikov
3357 Tolstikov
3357 Tolstikov is a main-belt asteroid discovered on March 21, 1984 by A. Mrkos at Klet.Was named in honour of Yevgeny Tolstikov.- External links :...

 (1984 FT) was named in honour of Yevgeny Tolstikov
Yevgeny Tolstikov
Yevgeny Ivanovich Tolstikov was a Soviet polar explorer, awarded by the Hero of the Soviet Union title. He led the Third Soviet Antarctic Expedition and one of the first manned drifting ice station in the Arctic....

.

He was associate professor at Charles University and the University of South Bohemia.
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