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The 2009 Edgar Wilson Award honors amateur astronomers who discovered five different comets in the last 12 months, proving that backyard comet hunting still thrives in this age of automated professional sky patrols.

The Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT) -- operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for the International Astronomical Union (IAU) -- has announced the recipients of the 2009 Edgar Wilson Award for the discovery of comets by amateurs during the calendar year ending June 11.