On the Road with David Levy

Longtime Sky &Telescope contributor David H. Levy is most famous for his co-discovery in 1993 of the Comet Shoemaker-Levy, which collided with Jupiter in 1994. But he began his comet search long before then, in December of 1965, and has discovered or co-discovered 22 comets since then. That only begins to describe his observing experience — he has also observed 77 eclipses, from total solar eclipses to penumbral lunar eclipses. As he blogged for S&T, he dispensed advice on how to observe and (even better) discover comets.

He also reported on another strong passion: astronomy outreach, covering several sky-watching events associated with 2009’s International Year of Astronomy, and other ongoing activities such as University of Arizona’s Astronomy Camp.