100 Years Ago Today . . .
Taken by Doug Zubenel on November 13, 2025 @
Delphos, Ohio, USA
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Date Taken: 2025:11:13 13:32:40
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. . . the late, great Leslie C. Peltier co-discovered his first comet from the homemade observatory on his family's farm, four miles east of Delphos, Ohio, USA.
He used a 6-inch Fitz refractor for this first find, and between this date and June 29th, 1954, using this same instrument, discovered or co-discovered eleven additional comets.
Leslie was also a very early member of the AAVSO (American Association Of Variable Star Observers), and between March 1st of 1918 and May 9th (local time), 1980, never missed a single month reporting his observations. During that vast expanse of years, he amassed a total of over 132,000 variable star estimates.
Perhaps his greatest achievement was his autobiography, "Starlight Nights: The Adventures of a Star-Gazer," first published in 1965, and now out of print since 1999.
I encourage anyone in the world who is an amateur astronomer and has not read this book to track down a copy, or find a library that has it on their dusty shelves. You WILL NOT come away from this read the same!!
The above photo was shot in the spring of 1978 (two years before Leslie's passing) on old Kodak Plus-X film with an old Argus C-3 camera and a #25 red filter. Sepia tone added digitally. Dominating the midground is the old observatory that once housed Leslie's 12-inch Clark refractor, and the smaller, cube-ish structure in the right foreground was the amazing Merry-Go-Round observatory, housing the 6-inch Fitz refractor.
Photographer's website:
No URL provided.
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