Gennadiy Vladimirovich Borisov (russian: Генна́дий Влади́мирович Бори́сов; born in 1962 in

Kramatorsk Kramatorsk ( uk, Краматорськ, translit=Kramatorsk ) is a city and the administrative centre of Kramatorsk Raion in the northern portion of Donetsk Oblast, in eastern Ukraine. Prior to 2020, Kramatorsk was a city of oblast significan ...

) is a Crimean telescope maker and

amateur astronomer Amateur astronomy is a hobby where participants enjoy observing or imaging celestial objects in the sky using the unaided eye, binoculars, or telescopes. Even though scientific research may not be their primary goal, some amateur astronomers ...

who discovered the first-known

interstellar comet An interstellar object is an astronomical object (such as an asteroid, a comet, or a rogue planet, but not a star) in interstellar space that is not gravitationally bound to a star. This term can also be applied to an object that is on an interst ...

2I/Borisov 2I/Borisov, originally designated C/2019 Q4 (Borisov), is the first observed rogue comet and the second observed interstellar interloper after ʻOumuamua. It was discovered by the Crimean amateur astronomer and telescope maker Gennadiy Borisov ...

, in 2019.

Work

Borisov works as an engineer at the Not to be confused with the

Crimean Astrophysical Observatory The Crimean Astrophysical Observatory (CrAO, obs. code: 095) is located at Nauchnij research campus, near the Central Crimean city of Bakhchysarai, on the Crimean peninsula. CrAO is often called simply by its location and campus name, ...

, which is located right next to it. of the

Sternberg Astronomical Institute The Sternberg Astronomical Institute (Государственный астрономический институт имени Штернберга in Russian), also known as GAISh (ГАИШ), is a research institution in Moscow, Russia, a divisi ...

Moscow State 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 ...

. There he maintains the telescopes, but does not make observations himself. He also works with Astronomicheskiy Nauchnyy Tsentr JSC, creating experimental telescopes in collaboration with

Roscosmos The State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" (russian: Государственная корпорация по космической деятельности «Роскосмос»), commonly known simply as Roscosmos (russian: Роскосмос) ...

. Borisov pursues astronomy in his spare time at his personal observatory MARGO located in Nauchnyi, in the southern part of the Crimean peninsula. Between 2013 and 2019, he has discovered nine comets and several

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). ...

s such as . These discoveries were made using telescopes he designed and built himself: GENON (2 comets), GENON Max (5 comets) and the unnamed 0.65 m telescope (2 comets, including 2I/Borisov). In 2014, Borisov received two

Edgar Wilson Award __NOTOC__ The Edgar Wilson Award is an annual international award established in 1998 consisting of a monetary award and a plaque allocated annually to amateur comet discoverers. It is administered by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) ...

s for his discoveries of C/2013 N4 and C/2013 V2.

Discovery of 2I/Borisov

In early 2019, Borisov completed his new 0.65-meter telescope. On August 30, 2019, he used this telescope to discover the first known interstellar comet, 2I/Borisov, which is only the second interstellar object to have been observed. Borisov described his discovery thus: The discovery of 2I/Borisov by Gennadiy Borisov has been compared to the discovery of

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest ...

Clyde Tombaugh Clyde William Tombaugh (February 4, 1906 January 17, 1997) was an American astronomer. He discovered Pluto in 1930, the first object to be discovered in what would later be identified as the Kuiper belt. At the time of discovery, Pluto was cons ...

. Tombaugh was also an amateur astronomer who was building his own telescopes, although he discovered Pluto using Lowell Observatory's

astrograph An astrograph (or astrographic camera) is a telescope designed for the sole purpose of astrophotography. Astrographs are mostly used in wide-field astronomical surveys of the sky and for detection of objects such as asteroids, meteors, a ...

Views

Borisov thinks that soon amateur astronomers will no longer be able to discover new comets: "In 2016, only I discovered a comet. In 2013, there were seven of us. Every year there are less and less. There are more and more huge telescopes. Amateurs will soon have nothing left."

Notes

References

External links

A video interview with Borisov
(in Russian, but subtitles can be enabled with auto-translation into English) {{Authority control Discoverers of comets 1962 births Living people Russian astronomers Ukrainian astronomers