Crimean Astrophysical Observatory
Astrophysical observatory near Bakhchysarai, Crimea
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ToursExplore Lably’s 3D toursCrAO has also been publishing the Bulletin of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory since 1947, in English since 1977. The observatory facilities (IAU code 095) are located on territory of settlement of Nauchnyi since the mid-1950s; before that, they were further south, near Simeiz. 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).
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List of discovered minor planets
As of 2016, the Minor Planet Center (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, Lyudmila Chernykh, Nikolai Chernykh, Lyudmila Zhuravleva, Bella A. Burnasheva, Nikolaj Efimovič Kuročkin, Lyudmila Karachkina, Natalʹja Vitalʹevna Metlova and Galina Ričardovna Kastelʹ. As a peculiarity, British astronomer and long-time MPC director Brian G. Marsden 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):