Michel Ory


Michel Ory is a Swiss amateur astronomer and a prolific discoverer of minor planets and comets.

Biography

Ory was born in Develier, in the district of Delémont in the canton of Jura in Switzerland. He attended school in Delémont, and at the cantonal school in Porrentruy, then studied at the University of Geneva, graduating in physics in 1990. He trained as a scientific journalist at Cedos SA in Carouge, qualifying in 1992, then undertook teacher training at the Institut pédagogique in Porrentruy, qualifying as a secondary school teacher in 1994, then becoming a physics teacher at the cantonal school in Porrentruy, a position which he continues to hold in 2012. Ory is married and has two children.
A keen amateur astronomer, he joined the Jura Astronomical Society in 1990 and between 1993 and 1998 he was one of the seven member-builders of the Jura Astronomical Observatory.

Awards

He was one of five winners of the 2009 Edgar Wilson Award for his discovery on 27 August 2008 of 304P/Ory, a periodic comet of the Jupiter family, using a 24-inch f/3.9 reflector at the Jura Observatory in Switzerland.
In 2018, he was awarded a Gene Shoemaker NEO Grant which will improve the robotic survey he conducts in collaboration with Claudine Rinner at the Oukaïmeden Observatory in Morocco. He is a teacher of physics at the cantonal school in Porrentruy, Switzerland. The main-belt asteroid 67979 Michelory was named in his honor.
In 2020, he and Claudine Rinner jointly received the Dorothea Klumpke - Isaac Roberts prize from the Société astronomique de France.

Discoveries

During 2000–2010, Michel Ory has made a large number of discoveries of different astronomical objects at several observatory sites. As per 2016, he is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of 199 numbered minor planets he made during 2001–2010.
At the Jura Observatory, located in Vicques, Switzerland, he made his most famous discovery, 304P/Ory, a periodic comet of the Jupiter family, and also discovered over 234 asteroids and two supernovae. Ory also made discoveries at two other observatory sites in the U.S., namely at Tenagra II Observatory, Arizona, and at Sierra Stars Observatory, California, from where he discovered another 11 and 2 asteroids, respectively.

Comet 304P/Ory

It was on the nights of 26–27 and 27–28 August 2008 that Ory discovered what he thought was a near-Earth asteroid, which he reported to the Minor Planet Center, Harvard. At around 8:08 p.m. on 28 August he received notification from the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams that the object was in fact a periodic comet: the announcement ran, "An apparently asteroidal object discovered by Michel Ory, which was posted on the Minor Planet Center's 'NEOCP' webpage, has been found by other CCD observers to be cometary."
The comet was named 304P/Ory after him, and the CBAT announcement brought congratulations from around the world. The comet orbits the sun in an elliptical orbit with a period of 5.96 years.
Ory received the Edgar Wilson Award from the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory at Harvard University, and later in 2008 a square in Viques was named Place de la Comète P/2008 Q2 Ory in honour of his discovery.

List of discovered minor planets

57658 Nilrem17 October 2001
68718 Safi17 February 2002
84902 Porrentruy17 October 2003
88906 Moutier11 October 2001
95771 Lachat9 March 2003
99824 Polnareff29 June 2002
113415 Rauracia30 September 2002
115950 Kocherpeter18 November 2003
117736 Sherrod4 April 2005
125076 Michelmayor19 October 2001
126160 Fabienkuntz4 January 2002
126748 Mariegerbet16 February 2002
7 September 2004
129078 Animoo8 November 2004
129137 Hippolochos13 January 2005
23 March 2003
143622 Robertbloch22 April 2003
24 September 2005
145559 Didiermüller18 July 2006
24 July 2006
29 August 2005
28 August 2005
157456 Pivatte17 November 2004
162937 Prêtre12 August 2001
13 August 2002

204702 Péquignat19 March 2006
207109 Stürmenchopf11 January 2005
28 February 2005
29 December 2008
210997 Guenat14 December 2001
211613 Christophelovis25 October 2003
212374 Vellerat21 April 2006
213770 Fignon23 February 2003
214081 Balavoine17 April 2004
214136 Alinghi13 January 2005
214378 Kleinmann10 June 2005
29 August 2005
218268 Pierremariepelé20 February 2003
30 July 2005
223566 Petignat22 March 2004
224027 Grégoire10 June 2005
28 August 2005
224206 Pietchisson21 September 2005
227065 Romandia1 April 2005
10 August 2005
5 January 2006
6 April 2007
11 April 2007
6 May 2008
29 August 2005

259905 Vougeot14 March 2004
260906 Robichon1 September 2005
262705 Vosne-Romanee14 December 2006
15 February 2007
17 August 2009
272209 Corsica28 August 2005
275962 Chalverat21 November 2001
276781 Montchaibeux11 May 2004
11 March 2007
15 April 2007
17 April 2007
280640 Ruetsch4 January 2005
280642 Doubs13 January 2005
15 September 2007
282669 Erguël6 November 2005
21 September 2008
284945 Saint-Imier14 March 2010
13 January 2005
13 January 2005
289586 Shackleton30 March 2005
289587 Chantdugros30 March 2005
290001 Uebersax10 August 2005
28 August 2005
30 August 2005
21 February 2006

18 August 2009
20 February 2006
17 August 2009
327082 Tournesol10 November 2004
327632 Ferrarini24 July 2006
27 August 2008
329935 Prévôt30 July 2005
14 December 2006
331992 Chasseral3 April 2005
9 June 2007
20 February 2007
336108 Luberon2 May 2008
336203 Sandrobuss22 September 2008
18 October 2009
20 October 2009
337380 Lenormand17 August 2001
339486 Raimeux3 April 2005
29 August 2005
11 September 2007
4 August 2008
349606 Fleurance26 October 2008
352860 Monflier30 November 2008
20 March 2009
21 March 2009
22 March 2009

28 August 2005
470600 Calogero6 August 2008
481984 Cernunnos20 May 2009
15 August 2002
8 January 2013
7 January 2013
10 January 2013
542888 Confino10 June 2013
15 August 2013
543315 Asmakhammari10 December 2013
3 July 2013