Two minor planets have been named after UrFU scientists

09:42, July 17, 2014

Two asteroids have been named after Victor Grokhovsky and Maria Gritsevich

On July 14, the International Astronomical Union published data on asteroids, which would be named after two employees of Ural Federal University: Associate Professor of UrFU Laboratory “Extra Terra Consortium” Victor Grokhovsky and senior researcher Maria Gritsevich. As it is known, Victor Grokhovsky was a chief investigator of the first fragments of the meteorite that fell in Chelyabinsk last year.

«Grokhovsky» asteroid in located within the main asteroid belt, it is not approaching the earth, so it isn’t dangerous for our planet. The asteroid was discovered in 1949, since then more than 600 observations were held, one of the last was held in March 2014. Scientists know the orbit of the asteroid, but its size and weight still to be defined more accurate.

Catalogue of asteroids is available online on the site of the International Astronomical Union. Asteroid «Grokhovsky» has a serial number 16399, and the asteroid «Gritsevich» - 14345.

According to Victor Grokhovsky, only a small part of the discovered asteroids already has names. And every year more and more asteroids are getting discovered due to the face that modern tools are capable of detecting smaller asteroids. Commenting on the reasons for which the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union decided to name an asteroid in honor of UrFU employees, Victor Grokhovsky noted that thus they assessed the work of the university staff and their contribution to the search and study of the fragments of the meteorite, which fell near the Lake Chebarkul. "Chelyabinsk phenomenon really shook the whole world. It was truly a epoch-making event of a global scale. The decision of the Assembly is a recognition of our entire research team, which has been engaged in the study of asteroids for many years", - said Victor Grokhovsky.

We would like to remind that UrFU scientists also were the first to discover and investigate the fragments of "Annama" meteorite, which flew over the Kola Peninsula in April 2014.