Valentin D. Ivanov ( bg, Валентин Д. Иванов) is a Bulgarian

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 ...

working in the

European Southern Observatory The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, commonly referred to as the European Southern Observatory (ESO), is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental research organisation made up of 16 mem ...

, mainly at the Paranal site. Among his primary research areas are the dynamics of

star cluster Star clusters are large groups of stars. Two main types of star clusters can be distinguished: globular clusters are tight groups of ten thousand to millions of old stars which are gravitationally bound, while open clusters are more loosely clust ...

s, formation of

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

brown dwarf Brown dwarfs (also called failed stars) are substellar objects that are not massive enough to sustain nuclear fusion of ordinary hydrogen ( 1H) into helium in their cores, unlike a main-sequence star. Instead, they have a mass between the most ...

s, and

exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

s around such objects. Valentin Ivanov and

Ray Jayawardhana Ray Jayawardhana is the Harold Tanner Dean of the Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences and a Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University, effective September 1, 2018. He was formerly Dean of Science and a Professor of physics & astron ...

are two of the pioneers of the investigation of the

planemo A planetary-mass object (PMO), planemo, or planetary body is by geophysical definition of celestial objects any celestial object massive enough to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium (to be rounded under its own gravity), but not enough to sustain ...

s. They discovered the first double planemo Oph 162225-240515. This discovery came just before the debate about the 2006 planet definition, and posed the problem about the distinction between

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

s and

Background

Valentin D. Ivanov was born in the town of

Bourgas Burgas ( bg, Бургас, ), sometimes transliterated as ''Bourgas'', is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the fourth-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna, with a popul ...

, Bulgaria in 1967. He obtained his master's degree in physics and astronomy at the

University of Sofia Sofia University, "St. Kliment Ohridski" at the University of Sofia, ( bg, Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“, ''Sofijski universitet „Sv. Kliment Ohridski“'') is the oldest higher education i ...

in 1992. He earned a PhD degree at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

Tucson , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, U.S. in 2001. He became a fellow at the

, on

La Silla La Silla may refer to: * La Silla Observatory, an astronomical observatory in Chile * Cerro de la Silla, a mountain and natural monument located within the metropolitan area of the city of Monterrey, Nuevo León, in northeastern Mexico. * La Sill ...

and

Cerro Paranal Cerro Paranal is a mountain in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile and is the home of the Paranal Observatory. Prior to the construction of the observatory, the summit was a horizontal control point with an elevation of ; now it is above sea ...

. In 2003-2014 he was a staff astronomer at the

(ESO), Paranal where he was an instrument scientist for a number of near-infrared instruments, including

SofI Sofi may refer to: *Sofi (mascot), the Mascot for 2010 ISF Women's World Championship *Sofi Marinova (born 1975), Bulgarian singer SOFI may refer to: *Swedish Institute for Language and Folklore * Spray-On Foam Insulation, used on the Space Shutt ...

at the NTT,

ISAAC Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was the ...

and

VISIR ''DV'' (''Dagblaðið Vísir'') is an online newspaper in Iceland published by Torg ehf. It came into existence as a daily newspaper in 1981 when two formerly independent newspapers, Vísir and Dagblaðið, merged. Early on it was one of the lar ...

at the VLT, and the wide-field camera VIRCAM mounted at the

VISTA (telescope) The VISTA (Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy) is a wide-field reflecting telescope with a 4.1 metre mirror, located at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. It is operated by the European Southern Observatory and started science ope ...

. He moved to the ESO headquarters in 2015 where he is working at the science-grade data products group.

Science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

is Valentin's hobby. He has about thirty stories appearing in

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

and a few in various English language venues. His stories has been translated in German and Russian as well. In 2006, together with Kiril Dobrev, he has published a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

story collection in

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

External links

Twin planemos discovery - ESO outreach

Personal homepage

BG SF Wiki

Crossroads, a story in the Bulgarian culture web magazine Public Republic (English)

How I Saved the World, a story in the anthology Dialmonds in the Sky, Ed. M. Brotheron (English)

Personal Blog (English and Bulgarian)

Qualitative classification of extraterrestrial civilizations, by Ivanov, Beamín, Cáceres & Minniti - research paper

Qualitative classification of extraterrestrial civilizations, by Ivanov, Beamín, Cáceres & Minniti - video

Books by V. Ivanov
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ivanov, Valentin 1967 births Living people Bulgarian astronomers