Gennady Vladimirovich Borisov

Gennadi Wladimirowitsch Borissow ( Russian Генна́дий Влади́мирович Бори́сов ; English transcription Gennadiy Vladimirovich Borisov ; * 1962 ) is a Russian telescope technician and amateur astronomer, known as a comet hunter.

He works at the observatory in Crimea of the Sternberg Institute for Astronomy of Lomonosov University as a telescope technician (not as an observer). He also designs and builds telescopes himself.

In his free time he observes in his private observatory in Nautschnyj in the Crimea. From 2013 to 2017 he discovered seven comets and some near-Earth objects (e.g. 2013 TV135). The seven comets he discovered by 2017 are: C / 2013 N4 (long-period), C / 2013 V2 (hyperbolic), C / 2014 R1 (almost parabolic), C / 2014 Q3 (of the Halley type), C / 2015 D4 (long-term), C / 2016 R3 (long-term), C / 2017 E1.

On August 30, 2019, he discovered the first interstellar comet and second visitor from outside the solar system 2I / Borisov after 1I / ʻOumuamua (the I stands for interstellar object ). He used a self-made 0.65-m telescope. The object was moving in a direction slightly different from that of objects in the asteroid belt. After comparing it with the data from the Minor Planets Center, he realized that it was a new property. On September 8, 2019, Piotr Guzik and Michal Drahus from the observatory of the University of Krakow recognized with the help of their computer program Interstellar Crusher that it is moving not on an elliptical but on a hyperbolic orbit, i.e. that it will leave the solar system again without return. The closest approach to Earth will take place on December 28, 2019. The object does not come from the Oort cloud like many other comets. ʻOumuamua is not a comet, but an asteroid. The probability of the frequency of such interstellar objects was then increased to one object per year and is the aim of the search for the ESA Comet Interceptor program, which was launched in June 2019. He sees the importance of amateur astronomers in the discovery of new comets (for many years an average of three per year) dwindling as the number of professional observers and telescopes increases.

In 2014 he received the Edgar Wilson Award.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ludwig Hruza: Far visit. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 20, 2019.
2. ^ Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams: The Edgar Wilson Award Recipients