José Bonilla (astronomer)
José Bonilla | |
|---|---|
| Born | José Árbol y Bonilla February 5, 1853 |
| Died | 1920 (aged 66–67) Mexico City, Mexico |
| Nationality | Mexican |
| Known for | Bonilla observation, first person to photograph a UFO |
José Árbol y Bonilla (February 5, 1853 – 1920) was a Mexican astronomer, engineer, and astrophotographer.
He is most known for the 1883 Bonilla observation, in which he observed and photographed hundreds objects passing in front of the Sun through a telescope. The identity of the objects he observed remained unknown until 2011 when they were identified as comet fragments.
The photographs that Bonilla took of his are some of the earliest examples of unidentified flying object photography.