Grigory Nikolayevich Neujmin (; – 17 December 1946) was a Georgian–

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

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

, native of

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, and a discoverer of numerous

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 as well as 6

periodic Periodicity or periodic may refer to: Mathematics * Bott periodicity theorem, addresses Bott periodicity: a modulo-8 recurrence relation in the homotopy groups of classical groups * Periodic function, a function whose output contains values tha ...

and a

hyperbolic comet This is a list of parabolic and hyperbolic comets in the Solar System. Many of these comets may come from the Oort cloud, or perhaps even have interstellar origin. The Oort Cloud is not gravitationally attracted enough to the Sun to form into a ...

at the

Pulkovo Pulkovo may refer to: *Pulkovo Heights marking the southern limit of Saint Petersburg, Russia *Pulkovo Airport serving Saint Petersburg, Russia * Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise, a former (until 2006) state airline based in Saint Petersburg, Russia *Pu ...

and Simeiz Observatories during the first half of the 20th century.

Discoveries

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. Funct ...

credits his discoveries under the name " G. N. Neujmin", and his surname appears this way in the literature. However, the modern English transliteration of his name would be Neuymin. Neujmin is credited with the discovery of 74

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet—an object larger than a meteoroid that is neither a planet nor an identified comet—that orbits within the Solar System#Inner Solar System, inner Solar System or is co-orbital with Jupiter (Trojan asteroids). As ...

s, and notably

951 Gaspra 951 Gaspra is an S-type asteroid, S-type asteroid that orbits very close to the inner edge of the asteroid belt. Gaspra was discovered by Russian astronomer G. N. Neujmin in 1916. Neujmin named it after Gaspra, a Black Sea retreat that was visite ...

and 762 Pulcova. He also discovered and co-discovered 6 Jupiter-family comets, namely

25D/Neujmin 25D/Neujmin, otherwise known as Comet Neujmin 2, is a periodic comet in the Solar System discovered by Grigory N. Neujmin ( Simeis) on February 24, 1916. It was last observed on February 10, 1927. It was confirmed by George Van Biesbroeck (Ye ...

28P/Neujmin 28P/Neujmin, also known as Neujmin 1, is a large periodic comet in the Solar System. With a perihelion distance (closest approach to the Sun) of , this comet does not make close approaches to the Earth. Orbital and physical characteristics Th ...

42P/Neujmin 42P/Neujmin, also known as Neujmin 3, is a periodic comet 2 km in diameter. This comet and 53P/Van Biesbroeck are fragments of a parent comet that split in March 1845.57P/du Toit-Neujmin-Delporte (including fragment A) and

58P/Jackson–Neujmin 58P/Jackson–Neujmin is a periodic comet in the Solar System with a current orbital period of 8.19 years. Observational history The comet was discovered on a photographic plate on 20 September 1936 by Cyril Jackson of the Union Observatory, ...

, as well as C/1914 M1 (Neujmin), a hyperbolic comet.

Awards and honors

He received the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

on 10 June 1945. The lunar crater ''

Neujmin Grigory Nikolayevich Neujmin (; – 17 December 1946) was a Georgian–Russian astronomer, native of Tbilisi in Georgia (country), Georgia, and a discoverer of numerous minor planets as well as 6 periodic comet, periodic and a List of hyperbolic ...

'' is named in his honour, as is

1129 Neujmina 1129 Neujmina (Minor planet provisional designation, ''prov. designation'': ) is an Eos asteroid from the outer regions of the asteroid belt. It was discovered on 8 August 1929, by astronomer Praskov'ja Georgievna Parchomenko, Praskoviya Parchom ...

, a main-belt asteroid of the

Eos family The Eos family (''adj. Eoan'' ; ) is a very large asteroid family located in the outer region of the asteroid belt. This family of K-type asteroids is believed to have formed as a result of an ancient catastrophic collision. The family's parent b ...

discovered by Praskovjya Parkhomenko at Simeiz Observatory in 1929.

List of discovered minor planets

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neujmin, Grigory 1886 births 1946 deaths 20th-century Russian astronomers Scientists from Tbilisi Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Discoverers of asteroids Discoverers of comets Soviet astronomers