Zdeněk Kopal

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Zdeněk Kopal (born April 4, 1914 in Litomyšl ; † June 23, 1993 ) was an astronomer who was born and raised in the Czech Republic and later lived mainly in England.

In the beginning of his astronomical career, his field of work was the variable stars , especially the eclipsing variables . He later worked in the field of solar system astronomy. In the 1960s, he mapped the surface of the moon using tens of thousands of photos. He used the observatory on the Pic du Midi de Bigorre in the French Pyrenees. This project served in preparation for the Apollo mission and was funded by NASA .

The asteroid (2628) copal was named after him in his honor.

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