Sergei Konstantinovich Kostinsky (12 August 1867 – 21 August 1936) was a Russian and Soviet astronomer who worked on observational and photographic astronomical measurement techniques at the

Pulkovo Observatory The Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory (russian: Пулковская астрономическая обсерватория, Pulkovskaya astronomicheskaya observatoriya), officially named the Central Astronomical Observatory of the Russian Academ ...

. The so-called Kostinsky Effect involving the merging of closely occurring stars on a photographic plate is named after him as are an asteroid and a crater on the Moon. Kostinsky was born in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, where he went to the local Gymnasium before studying at

Moscow University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

under

Fyodor Bredikhin Fyodor Aleksandrovich Bredikhin (russian: Фёдор Александрович Бредихин, 8 December 1831 – 14 May 1904 ( O.S.: 1 May)) was a Russian astronomer. His surname is sometimes given as Bredichin in the literature, and non- ...

and Vitold Tserasky. He followed Bredikhin to work at the Pulkovo observatory becoming supernumerary astronomer in 1890 and rising to senior astronomer in 1902. He began to work on astrophotography under

Oskar Backlund Johan Oskar Backlund (28 April 1846 – 29 August 1916) was a Swedish-Russian astronomer. His name is sometimes given as Jöns Oskar Backlund, however even contemporary Swedish sources give "Johan". In Russia, where he spent his entire career, he ...

from 1895 producing gelatin glass images which were used for making accurate measurements. This also involved travels to Germany, the Netherlands and France where he worked with

Julius Scheiner Julius Scheiner (25 November 1858 – 20 December 1913) was a German astronomer, born in Cologne and educated at Bonn. He became assistant at the astrophysical observatory in Potsdam in 1887 and its observer in chief in 1898, three years after h ...

Max Wolf Maximilian Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf (21 June 1863 – 3 October 1932) was a German astronomer and a pioneer in the field of astrophotography. He was the chairman of astronomy at the University of Heidelberg and director of the Heidelberg-K� ...

Jacobus Kapteyn Prof Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn FRS FRSE LLD (19 January 1851 – 18 June 1922) was a Dutch astronomer. He carried out extensive studies of the Milky Way and was the discoverer of evidence for galactic rotation. Kapteyn was also among the fi ...

Paul Henry and Prosper Henry Paul-Pierre Henry (Paul Henry) (21 August 1848 – 4 January 1905) and his brother Prosper-Mathieu Henry (Prosper Henry) (10 December 1849 – 25 July 1903) were French opticians and astronomers. They made refracting telescopes and instruments ...

. He obtained remarkable images of the solar corona during an eclipse in 1896 observed from

Novaya Zemlya Novaya Zemlya (, also , ; rus, Но́вая Земля́, p=ˈnovəjə zʲɪmˈlʲa, ) is an archipelago in northern Russia. It is situated in the Arctic Ocean, in the extreme northeast of Europe, with Cape Flissingsky, on the northern island, ...

. He was also involved in accurate measurements of the arc of a meridian in 1899-1901 at

Spitzbergen Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

in collaboration with Swedish scientists. Kostinsky was also involved in training young astronomers and popularizing astronomy, teaching formally as a professor at the

Petrograd University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...

from 1919.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kostinsky, Sergei 1867 births 1936 deaths Soviet astronomers Astronomers from the Russian Empire