astronomy

Michel Ory

Michel Ory is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Michel Ory rather than just read about it. In short: Michel Ory (born 18 April 1966) 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.

Key takeaways

Michel Ory belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Michel Ory to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Michel Ory from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Michel Ory (born 18 April 1966) 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 (P/2008 Q2 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 (J43) 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 (including unnumbered bodies) and two supernovae. Ory also made discoveries at two other observatory sites in the U.S., namely at Tenagra II Observatory (926), Arizona, and at Sierra Stars Observatory (G68), 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 (CBAT) that the object was in fact a periodic comet: the announcement ran, "An apparently asteroidal object discovered by Michel Ory (Delemont, Switzerland, on CCD images obtained with a 0.61-m f/3.9 reflector at Vicques; discovery observation tabulated below), 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 (P/2008 Q2 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

References

External links Amateur stargazer Michel Ory spots comet, Herald Sun, 2008 Un Jurassien rejoint le panthéon des découvreurs de comètes Archived 2018-10-01 at the Wayback Machine, Le Quotidien Jurassien, 1 September 2008 J'ai passé plus de 550 nuits à l'observatoire Archived 2018-10-01 at the Wayback Machine, 20minutes, 1 September 2008 Ory est de la taille de la Terre Archived 2018-10-01 at the Wayback Machine, Le Matin, 6 September 2008 Accoucheur du ciel Archived 2018-10-01 at the Wayback Machine, Le Temps, 6 September 2008 L'invité de la rédaction: Michel Ory Archived 2018-10-01 at the Wayback Machine, Le Quotidien Jurassien, 11 October 2008 Portrait: Michel Ory, une comète comme un pro! Archived 2018-10-01 at the Wayback Machine, Ciel et espace de novembre 2008 (no. 426)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Michel Ory

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Michel Ory claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Michel Ory before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Michel Ory ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Michel Ory

In research: Michel Ory appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Michel Ory in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Michel Ory is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1966 births, 20th-century Swiss astronomers, 21st-century Swiss astronomers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Michel Ory outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Michel Ory in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Michel Ory means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Michel Ory out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Michel Ory in simple terms?

Michel Ory (born 18 April 1966) 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.

Why does Michel Ory matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Michel Ory?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Michel Ory.