The Crimean Astrophysical Observatory (CrAO, obs. code: 095) is located at Nauchnij research campus, near the Central Crimean city of

Bakhchysarai Bakhchysarai ( crh, Bağçasaray, italic=yes; russian: Бахчисара́й; ua, Бахчисара́й; tr, Bahçesaray) is a town in Crimea, a territory recognized by a majority of countries as part of Ukraine and annexed by Russia as the Re ...

, on the

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...

n peninsula. CrAO is often called simply by its location and campus name, Crimea–Nauchnij, still ranks among the worldwide most prolific discovery sites for

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. CrAO has also been publishing the ''Bulletin of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory'' since 1947, in English since 1977. The observatory facilities (

IAU code This is a list of observatory codes (IAU codes or MPC codes) published by the Minor Planet Center. For a detailed description, ''see observations of small Solar System bodies Observations of minor planets as well as comets and natural satellites ...

095) are located on territory of settlement of Nauchnyi since the mid-1950s; before that, they were further south, near

Simeiz Simeiz ( uk, Сімеїз, russian: Симеи́з, crh, Simeiz) is a resort town, an urban-type settlement in Yalta Municipality in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, a territory recognized by a majority of countries as part of Ukraine and incor ...

. The latter facilities still see some use, and are referred to as the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory–Simeiz (IAU code 094).

Observatory leaders

* 1945–1952: Grigory Shajn - head of construction, the first director of the Observatory at Nauchny. * 1952–1987: Andrei Severny. * 1987–2005: Nikolai Steshenko. * 2005 – present: Alla Rostopchina-Shakhovskaya (Romanova).

List of discovered minor planets

As of 2016, 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 T ...

(MPC) gives a total of 1286 numbered minor planets that were discovered at the ''Crimea–Nauchnij'' observatory site during 1966–2007. Most of these discovery are credited to the Russian/Soviet astronomers

Tamara Smirnova Tamara Mikhaylovna Smirnova (russian: Тама́ра Миха́йловна Смирно́ва; 1935–2001) was a Soviet/Russian astronomer and a discoverer of minor planets and comets. Career From 1966 to 1988, Smirnova was a staff member of t ...

Lyudmila Chernykh Lyudmila Ivanovna Chernykh (russian: Людми́ла Ива́новна Черны́х, June 13, 1935 in Shuya, Ivanovo Oblast – July 28, 2017) was a Russian-born Soviet astronomer, wife and colleague of Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh, and a p ...

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

Lyudmila Zhuravleva Lyudmila Vasilyevna Zhuravleva (russian: Людмила Васильевна Журавлёва, uk, Людмила Василівна Журавльова, Ljudmyla Vasylivna Žuravljova; born 22 May 1946) is a Soviet, Russian and Ukrainian a ...

, Bella A. Burnasheva, Nikolaj Efimovič Kuročkin,

Lyudmila Karachkina Lyudmila Georgievna Karachkina (russian: Людмила Георгиевна Карачкина, born 3 September 1948, Rostov-on-Don) is an astronomer and discoverer of minor planets. In 1978 she began as a staff astronomer of the Institute for ...

Natalʹja Vitalʹevna Metlova 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 ...

and

Galina Ričardovna Kastelʹ 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 ...

. As a peculiarity, British astronomer and long-time MPC director

Brian G. Marsden Brian Geoffrey Marsden (5 August 1937 – 18 November 2010) was a British astronomer and the longtime director of the Minor Planet Center (MPC) at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (director emeritus from 2006 to 2010). ...

is also credited with the co-discovery of 37556 Svyaztie at Nauchnij in 1982, as a symbolic gesture of the astronomical collaborations and friendships between the East and the West during the Cold War. The MPC also credits the discovery of the following minor planets directly to the observatory (rather than to one of the above listed astronomers):

Gallery

References

External links

CrAO's website
{{Authority control Astronomical observatories built in the Soviet Union Buildings and structures in Crimea * Minor-planet discovering observatories

Observatory leaders

List of discovered minor planets

Gallery

See also

References

External links