Donald Edward Machholz was born on October 7, 1952, in Portsmouth, Virginia, United States. Donald Edward Machholz was an American amateur astronomer who was credited with the visual discovery of 12 comets bearing his name. Machholz spent over 9,000 hours comet-hunting over the course of his 50-year career.
Machholz was widely regarded as the most prolific visual comet discoverer alive in the years preceding his death. He spent nearly 9,000 hours of his life scanning the heavens for tail-toting cosmic relics visiting from the outer solar system.
Donald Machholz Net Worth At Death
Donald Machholz’s net worth at the time of his death can be estimated to be under a million dollars. On August 9, 2022, he died at the age of 69.
He married photojournalist Michele Machholz in 2014 and lived in Wikieup, Arizona.
Donald Machholz was an author of several publications. They include; “A Decade of Comets,” (1985), “An Observer’s Guide to Comet Hale-Bopp,” (1996), and “The Observing Guide to the Messier Marathon,” (2002) Cambridge University Press.