Comet Discoverer Thomas Bopp (1949–2018)By: Carolyn Collins Petersen | January 12, 2018
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/people-places-and-events/thomas-bopp-1949-2018/An unassuming amateur astronomer forever linked to one of the greatest comets in modern history has passed away.Thomas Joel Bopp, the co-discoverer of Comet Hale-Bopp, died January 5, 2018, in Phoenix, Arizona, from liver cancer. He was 68 years old.
As word of his loss was announced on Facebook, colleague Alan Hale wrote, "I was very saddened today to learn of the passing of my friend and 'partner in crime' Thomas J. Bopp. Our names are forever linked in history, and if there are any humans left around the year 4393 when H-B should be returning, perhaps they'll think of us, and the times in which we lived.
"Tom was a warm and congenial fellow," he added, "and played a good 'straight man' to my clown act whenever we appeared together."
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Thomas J. Bopp (left) and Alan Hale met for the first time at the 1995 Enchanted Skies Star Party in Socorro, New Mexico.
Electra Field / courtesy ESSP@Freya @kevindavis
