It's Easy

Ever discover a comet? Experience isn't always necessary. M. K. Valnu Bappu, an Indian graduate student, proved that a few summers ago.

Observing for the first time at Agassiz Station, Bappu exposed a plate for sixty minutes in the small hours of the morning of July 2, 1949. Plates such as these are ordinarily sent back to Cambridge for processing, but Professor Bok suggested that Bappu develop it himself.

When the plate was developed, the graduate student announced, "Now I'm going to look for comets." Bok, amused, chuckled. "Ha, ha, everyone looks for comets." But upon inspection Bappu spotted one, and Gordon A. Newkirk '50 and Bok confirmed his discovery. The comet, of only the thirteenth magnitude, is now known as the Bappu-Bok-Newkirk comet.