TV Repairman Focuses on the Sky, Finds His Fifth Comet

ALAMOGORDO, N.M. â€”  A television repairman with stars in his eyes has found his fifth new comet.

Howard Brewington first spotted the comet July 3 during the optimum 45-minute dark-sky viewing gap between the end of twilight and moonrise.

By July 6 it was official: The Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, the international registry for comet discoveries at Harvard University, confirmed his find and named it “C/1996 N1 (Brewington),� or “Comet Brewington� for short.

Daniel Green, associate director of the bureau, said Comet Brewington was the sixth comet found this year. It is only visible by telescope as it hangs down near the tail of the constellation Leo.

Small icy bodies that orbit the sun, comets come into view as they get close enough for the sun’s rays to illuminate them so they are visible from telescopes on Earth.

Comet Brewington--like the sun--is an estimated 100 million miles from Earth, Green said.

Astronomers discover new comets each year. In recent years, with organized professional comet-finding efforts, as many as 12 new ones a year have been found.

Brewington, who has his own television-repair shop in Alamogordo, said he is an avid comet hunter. He spends about 200 hours a year poised behind his telescope, scanning the universe for possible comets.

He spotted his first one in 1989 when he was living in South Carolina. A year later, he moved to New Mexico to live near Cloudcroft, where dark skies are popular among amateur astronomers.

He spotted three more between January 1991 and August 1992, and had been searching for his fifth ever since.