Bronberg Observatory

Index:

Current Info; Summary; History; Astronomers; Programmes; Instruments; Sources; Links:

Noted  for:
Berto Monard has discovered twelve supernovas. He has discovered twelve of the thirteen supernovas that have been discovered from Southern Africa.
He is also credited as the first amateur astronomer to discover the afterglow of a gamma ray burst.

Summary:
This is a private Observatory outside Pretoria. Berto Monard, an engineer at CSIR, owns it. This Observatory is dedicated to studying Cataclysmic  Variables (CV’s), mainly unstudied ones. Mr. Monard is also a member  of the Centre for Backyard Astrophysics (CBA); a global network of small telescopes dedicated to photometry of CV’s. Bronberg Observatory, also known as CBA-Pretoria is the only dedicated African participant of this network.

History:

• The  Observatory went into operation in 2001 and Mr Monard has discovered  three supernovas at this site. Jack Bennet in M83 made the only  other supernova discovery from Southern Africa, in 1968.

List of Discoveries:

• SN 2001el: 17 September 2001 in NGC 1448
• : 9 March 2002 in ESO 373-G 5 in Antlia.
• 2002cy:  8 May 2002 in NGC 1762.

Instruments:

Link to the Telescope Manufacturers.

• Meade  12 inch LX 200 fitted with a SBIG ST 7E CCD camera.
• Meade  12.5 inch Starfinder for visual observations.

Sources:

Link to the Main Bibliography Section and more information about Sources.

Pictorial  Sources:

Bibliography:

• Gamma ray burst source located by South African amateur; MNASSA October 2003, Vol. 62 nos. 7 & 8, p. 192
• Supernova  from the Centre for Backyard Astrophysics-PTA, MNASSA, Vol. 61, No’s 7 & 8, August 2002, pp.92 – 93.