Kacper Wierzchoś

Kacper Wierzchoś (born 1988, Lublin, Poland)^[1] is a Polish astronomer.

Kacper Wierzchoś
Employer	University of Arizona

Biography

He is the son of Jacek Wierzchoś, chemist, and former employee of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and Janina Wierzchoś, dentist.^[2] In the early 1990s, his family immigrated to Spain, where he graduated in physics from the Complutense University of Madrid.^[3] In 2019, he defended his doctorate, concerning comets,^[4] at the University of South Florida. He currently works at the Mount Lemmon Survey observatory as part of the Catalina Sky Survey project.^[3]

In this context, he discovered several asteroids. In particular, along with Theodore Pruyne he co-discovered 2020 CD₃ on 15 February 2020,^[1] then a temporary satellite of Earth.^[5][6] In April of the same year, he discovered a long-period comet, which consequently bears his name: C/2020 H3 (Wierzchoś).^[3] In September 2021, he discovered his second comet, periodic comet: P/2021 R4 (Wierzchoś).^[7][4] Other comets discovered by him include: P/2021 U1 (Wierzchos), P/2022 B1 (Wierzchos), C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos) and C/2024 G1 (Wierzchos).

He is married and lives with his wife in Tucson, Arizona.^[8] He speaks Polish, Spanish, English and Catalan.^[8]

The asteroid 594782 Kacperwierzchoś bears his name.^[9][10]

Discoveries

Asteroids

On 15 February 2020, together with Theodor Pruyne, he discovered the asteroid 2020 CD₃, a temporary satellite of Earth.^[5][6] On 13 November 2021, he discovered the asteroid 2021 VN22.^[11]

Comets

In April 2020, he discovered a long-period comet that was named after him – C/2020 H3 (Wierzchos).^[3] In September 2021, he discovered his second comet – P/2021 R4 (Wierzchos).^[7] The third comet – P/2021 U1 (Wierzchos) was discovered by him in October 2021, the fourth – P/2022 B1 (Wierzchos) in January 2022, and the fifth one – C/2024 E1 (Wierzchos) in 2024.^[12]