Lyudmila Ivanovna Chernykh (russian: Людми́ла Ива́новна Черны́х, June 13, 1935 in Shuya,

Ivanovo Oblast Ivanovo Oblast (russian: Ива́новская о́бласть, ''Ivanovskaya oblast'') is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It had a population of 927,828 as of the 2021 Russian Census. Its three largest cities are Ivanovo (the ...

– July 28, 2017) was a

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n-born

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

, wife and colleague of

Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh (russian: Никола́й Степа́нович Черны́х) (6 October 1931 – 25 May 2004Казакова, Р.К. Памяти Николая Степановича Черных'. Труды Государст ...

, and a prolific

discoverer of minor planets This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 numb ...

Professional career

In 1959 she graduated from Irkutsk State Pedagogical Institute (now Pedagogical Institute of Irkutsk State University). Between 1959 and 1963 she worked in the Time and Frequency Laboratory of the All-Union Research Institute of Physico-Technical and Radiotechnical Measurements in

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and mn, Эрхүү, ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 617,473 as of the 2010 Census, Irkutsk is ...

, where she did astrometrical observations for the Time Service. Between 1964 and 1998 she was a scientific worker at the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy of the USSR Academy of Sciences ( Russian Academy of Science since 1991), working at the observation base of the institute at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory (CrAO) in Nauchnyy settlement on the Crimean peninsula. In 1998 she was promoted to senior scientific worker at CrAO. The

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

(MPC) credits her with the discovery of 267 numbered

minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...

s, which she made at CrAO between 1966 and 1992. Several of these discoveries she made in collaboration with her husband and with Tamara Smirnova.

Honors

The asteroid

2325 Chernykh 2325 Chernykh, provisional designation , is a dark Themistian asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt, approximately in diameter. It was discovered on 25 September 1979, by Czech astronomer Antonín Mrkos at the Klet Observatory in ...

, discovered in 1979 by Czech astronomer

Antonín Mrkos Antonín Mrkos () (27 January 1918, Střemchoví – 29 May 1996, Prague) was a Czechs, Czech astronomer. Biography Mrkos entered the University in Brno in 1938. His studies were interrupted by the onset of World War II, and in 1945 he became ...

, was named in her and her husband's honour. The official naming citation was published by the MPC on 1 June 1981 ().

List of discovered minor planets

Two of her notable discoveries are

2127 Tanya 2127 Tanya, provisional designation , is a carbonaceous asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 40 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 29 May 1971, by Russian astronomer Lyudmila Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophy ...

– named after Russian child diarist Tanya Savicheva, and

2212 Hephaistos 2212 Hephaistos (1978 SB) is an Apollo asteroid and a NEO discovered on 27 September 1978 by L. I. Chernykh at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory. It is named after the Greek god Hephaestus. It is the largest member of the Hephaistos asteroid ...

, a

near-Earth object A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it into proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU). ...

of the

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

group of asteroids.

References

External links

Людмила Ивановна Черных

Parajanov Asteroid discovered by L. Chernykh
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chernykh, Lyudmila 1935 births 2017 deaths Discoverers of asteroids * People from Shuya Russian women scientists Soviet astronomers Women astronomers