John Caister Bennett
South African amateur astronomer and comet hunter.
He is notable for visually discovering a supernova, the first such discovery since the invention of the telescope. He also discovered two comets and compiled a catalog of comet-like objects in the southern sky.
Quick Facts
- Born
- 6 April 1914 in Estcourt, Natal
- Died
- 30 May 1990 in Pretoria
- Occupation
- Civil servant and amateur astronomer
- Notable discovery
- Supernova SN 1,968 L (1,968,000 cc) in Messier 83
- Comet discoveries
- C/1969 Y1 (Bennett) and C/1974 V2 (Bennett)
- Catalog
- Bennett catalog of 152 southern objects
- Award
- Gill Medal (1970)
Facts from the source article.
Amateur astronomer
Bennett got his start in astronomy as a child, when his mother pointed out the Southern Cross and planets on walks home from church and shared her memory of seeing Halley's Comet in 1910. After military service, he began comet hunting with a small 60 mm refractor, and in 1958 he turned his attention to tracking artificial satellites. In 1961 he bought a lightweight 125 mm refractor on an altazimuth mount, which became his go‑to instrument. He joined the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa and the British Astronomical Association early on. Though he spotted comets in the 1960s, either someone else got there first or the comets faded too quickly to be confirmed. Between 1969 and 1974, he methodically put together a list of 152 southern‑sky objects that could be mistaken for comets; this Bennett catalog remains a useful resource for comet hunters, like a southern Messier catalog. On July 16, 1968, while scanning the galaxy Messier 83, he noticed something unusual that professional astronomers soon identified as supernova SN 1968L, making him the first person to visually discover a supernova since the telescope was invented. After more than 333 hours of searching, on December 28, 1969, he found his first comet, C/1969 Y1 (Bennett), which became a Great Comet visible without a telescope the following year. His second comet, the faint C/1974 V2 (Bennett), came on November 13, 1974, after another 482 hours. He later bought a Celestron C‑8 but, despite 30 to 40 hours of searching each year for a decade, found no more comets, partly because of worsening light pollution. He also studied meteors and variable stars. In his final years, unable to observe, he gave his prized 125 mm refractor to the University of South Africa.
Honors
Bennett served as President of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa from 1968 to 1969 and as Director of its Comet & Meteor Section from 1968 to 1985. He received the Gill Medal in 1970, the Merlin Medal of the British Astronomical Association in 1971, and became a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1974. He was awarded the Nova Award from the American Association of Variable Star Observers in 1976 for his supernova discovery. An observatory and telescope at ASSA's Pretoria Center were named for him in 1977. He received an honorary Master of Science from Witwatersrand University in 1986 and was made an honorary member of ASSA in 1989. An asteroid, (4093) Bennett, was named after him in 1989. After his death, the Pretoria Centre established the annual Jack Bennett Award.
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