Wolf Bickel (born 6 July 1942,Bensberg) is a German amateurastronomer and a prolific discoverer ofasteroids, observing at his privateBergisch Gladbach Observatory, Germany. He is the most successful Germandiscoverer of minor planets.^[2][3][4]

Bickel studiedelectrical engineering atRWTH Aachen University and finished his studies in 1969. He became enthusiastic about astronomy, when he received a celestial chart andGalilean binoculars as a gift from his grandmother at the age of 16. Bickel began to grind parabolic mirrors to build his own telescopes. In 1995, he built a 0.6-meter aperture telescope and discovered his firstminor planet, the main-belt asteroid(14053) 1995 YS₂₅ the same year. He still uses this self-made telescope as of today.^[2]

He lives inBergisch Gladbach, in theCologne–Bonn Region ofNorth Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. TheMinor Planet Center confused Bickel's home town with the location of his observatory, which is located 30 kilometers from his place of residence.^[2] Bickel named12564 Ikeller – an asteroid of theKoronis family, and his one and only named discovery – after his wife, Ingeborg Bickel–Keller (b. 1941).^[5]

The 12-kilometer sized asteroid4324 Bickel, discovered by American astronomer Laurence Taff in 1981, was named in his honor.^[3]

As of 2017, he is credited by theMinor Planet Center (MPC) with the discovery of 665 numbered minor planets during 1995–2010.^[1]

In terms of total discoveries, Bickel is the most successful German discoverer of asteroids, ahead of (professional) astronomerFreimut Börngen and the firstamateur astronomer to claim this honor in more than 150 years.^[2] The comparison was published by Erwin Schwab in the journal of the German astronomical society "Vereinigung der Sternfreunde" in 2013, and applies a different metric than used by the MPC.^[2]

This is a list of Wolf Bickel's officially discovered (numbered) minor planets, as credited by theMinor Planet Center.^[1]