Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel (4 December 1821 – 16 March 1889), normally known as Wilhelm Tempel, was a German astronomer who worked in Marseille until the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, then later moved to Italy.^[2]

Tempel was born at Niedercunnersdorf, Saxony. He was a prolific discoverer of comets, discovering or co-discovering 21 in all, including Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, now known to be the parent body of the Leonid meteor shower, and 9P/Tempel, the target of the NASA probe Deep Impact in 2005. Other periodic comets that bear his name include 10P/Tempel and 11P/Tempel-Swift-LINEAR.

In 1861, he was awarded the Lalande Prize. He won the Prix Valz for the year 1880.^[3] The main-belt asteroid 3808 Tempel and the lunar crater Tempel are named after him.^[4]

References

External links

• Bianchi, S.; Gasperini, A.; Galli, D.; Palla, F.; Brenni, P.; Giatti, A. (2010). "Wilhelm Tempel and his 10.8-cm Steinheil Telescope" (PDF). Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage. 13 (1): 43–58. Bibcode:2010JAHH...13...43B. ISSN 1440-2807. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-08-10.
• John Dreyer (1890). "Obituary". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 50 (4): 179–182. Bibcode:1890MNRAS..50..179.. doi:10.1093/mnras/50.4.179.
• W. Tempel @ Astrophysics Data System

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