Eclipses and Other Phenomena: David Levy

From left, Linda Hall Trustee Nick Powell; former trustee Charles Sosland; Marilyn Hebenstreit; Dr. Levy; former LHL President Lisa Browar, Trustee John MacDonald; former Trustee Tuck Spaulding

David H. Levy is one of the most successful comet hunters in history. He has discovered 22 comets, nine of them using his own backyard telescopes. With Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker at the Palomar Observatory in California, he discovered Shoemaker-Levy 9, the comet that collided with Jupiter in 1994. That episode produced the most spectacular explosions ever witnessed in the solar system. 

In September 2015, Dr. Levy handed over his observing logs to Linda Hall's Rare Book collection. These logs date back to the summer of 1956 when, at age eight, Levy saw a shooting star.  His records -- totaling 18,000 sessions -- include the comets, eclipses, exploding suns, and especially the friendships that have come from so many years of skywatching.