John E. Bortle: Difference between revisions

Bortle has made a special study of [[comet]]s. He has recorded thousands of observations relating to more than 300 comets. From 1977 until 1994 he authored the monthly '"Comet Digest" in ''[[Sky and Telescope]]'' magazine. He also had a special interest in [[variable star]]s, recording more than 200,000 observations. From 1970 until 2000 he edited the monthly AAVSO circular for the [[American Association of Variable Star Observers]].<ref name="Peltier">{{cite web|url=http://www.astroleague.org/content/john-e-bortle-2013-leslie-peltier-award-0|title=John E. Bortle - 2013 Leslie Peltier Award|work=Astronomical League|accessdate=26 September 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150620002810/https://www.astroleague.org/content/john-e-bortle-2013-leslie-peltier-award-0|archive-date=20 June 2015}}</ref> He published his darkness scale in ''Sky and Telescope'' magazine in 2001. <ref>{{cite web|last=Bortle|first=John E.|date=February 2001|title=The Bortle Dark-Sky Scale|url=http://www.skyandtelescope.com/resources/darksky/3304011.html?page=1&c=y|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130611180652/http://media.skyandtelescope.com/documents/BortleDarkSkyScale.pdf|archive-date=June 11, 2013|archive-format=PDF|accessdate=2013-02-20|work=[[Sky & Telescope]]|publisher=Sky Publishing Corporation}}</ref> The scale ranges from 1 (extremely dark rural area or national park, usually at high elevation, low humidity, and low wind) to 9 (urban inner city). Today that scale is widely used throughout the world by the amateur astronomy community for ascertaining and relating their sky conditions to colleagues.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bortle|first=John E.|year=1998|url=http://www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/bortle.html|title=The Bright-Comet Chronicles}}</ref> Bortle has contributed more than 215,000 visual observations to the AAVSO's database.<ref>AAVSO Observer Records, 2016</ref>{{fcn|date=November 2022}}