Lyudmila Zhuravleva facts for kids

Lyudmila Vasilyevna Zhuravleva is a famous astronomer from the Soviet Union, Russia, and Ukraine. She was born on May 22, 1946. She worked at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory in Nauchnij, which is a place where scientists study space.

During her career, Lyudmila Zhuravleva discovered many minor planets, which are also known as asteroids. She found a total of 213 of these space rocks! This makes her one of the most successful asteroid discoverers.

She is also the president of the Crimean branch of the "Prince Clarissimus Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov Foundation." This foundation was started in May 1995.

Among her discoveries are some interesting asteroids, like 4086 Podalirius, which is a Trojan asteroid. Trojan asteroids are special because they share an orbit with a larger planet, like Jupiter, staying in stable points ahead of or behind the planet. She also discovered asteroid 2374 Vladvysotskij.

The Minor Planet Center keeps a list of everyone who has discovered minor planets. Lyudmila Zhuravleva is ranked very high on this list, showing how important her work is. She is credited with finding 200 asteroids by herself and helping to find 13 more with other astronomers between 1972 and 1992.

To honor her amazing contributions to astronomy, one of her colleagues, Lyudmila Karachkina, named an asteroid after her. This asteroid is called 26087 Zhuravleva and is located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Discovering Asteroids

Lyudmila Zhuravleva spent many years looking at the night sky through powerful telescopes. When she found a new object, she would carefully observe its movement over several nights. If the object moved differently from stars, it was likely an asteroid. She would then report her findings to the Minor Planet Center, which would confirm if it was a new discovery and give it a temporary name. Later, if enough observations were made, the asteroid would get a permanent number and sometimes a name chosen by the discoverer.

Her work helped us learn more about the many small bodies orbiting our Sun. These asteroids are like time capsules, holding clues about the early days of our solar system.

See also

In Spanish: Liudmila Zhuravliova para niños