Crimean amateur astronomer discovered a new comet in the solar system

In April, the astronomer reported to TASS that he had discovered a large asteroid with a diameter of about 200 m, potentially dangerous to the Earth. In 2019, he discovered an interstellar comet that bears his name.

I discovered a new comet. The discovery occurred early in the morning of November 8th. Tonight I received a certificate from Harvard from the Center for the Study of Minor Planets, which registered the comet and assigned it the name C/2024 V1 (Borisov), — reported TASS Gennady Borisov.

He said that he had been hunting for a new comet for more than a year and spent a lot of time observing and processing data. It is admitted that the forces were almost running out.

And then in the morning, while surveying the northern region of the sky in the constellation Ursa Major, I discovered an object that at first seemed to me to be an asteroid. I continued observing, filming, accumulating information, putting together the frames and saw that the object really had a weak tail. It’s a comet! — said the astronomer.

Confirmation was received from several astronomers around the world who observed it. This was followed by a circular from Harvard confirming the discovery.

The comet discovered by the Crimean became the 13th in his account. Indeed, he now ranks second in the world among amateur astronomers in discovering comets: the first belongs to a researcher from Australia, who has 18 comets to his name. The comet named “Borisov” will be at a distance of one and a half astronomical magnitudes from Earth by February 2025. It can be observed between Mars and Jupiter. The next time the comet will pass is 3,700 years from now. It is approximately several hundred meters in diameter. In total, over the entire history of observation, astronomers have discovered just over 4.5 thousand comets.

amateur astronomer

Borisov lives in the village of Nauchny in the Bakhchisarai region of Crimea and with his own hands creates telescopes with which he observes celestial bodies. He made his first discoveries in 2013. Since the beginning of 2024, he has discovered 68 near-Earth asteroids, and more than 130 in total.

source: TASS