Catch a comet

How did the oceans appear on Earth? What was the Tunguska meteorite? How do scientists open comets and how - amateurs? We talked about all this with the Ukrainian astronomer Klim Ivanovich Churyumov , professor of Kiev National University named after Taras Shevchenko, member of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the pioneer of Cometes Churumov - Gerasimenko (1969) and Churyumov - Solodovnikov (1986), director of the Kiev Planetarium. It is to Cometa Churumov - Gerasimenko that is now flying the apparatus of the European Space Agency "Rosette". Scientists hope that his mission will allow you to learn more about the past of the solar system. Talked by Natalia Demina .

- Can you say that you know everything about comets? When is it best to look for them?

- No, of course, and I would like to know more. It is best to look for comets in the morning and in the evening, when they approach perihelia, become brighter and begin to appear against the background of the twilight sky. And when they are in the dark night sky, many can see them. To be the first to see a new comet, you need to make observations in the evening in the western sky and in the morning in the eastern one hour or two before sunrise or after sunset. These are the so -called zones of Everhart, in which lovers visually opened about 70% of all new comets.

Already in the 90s of the last century, the situation with the discoveries of comets has radically changed, as PZS-cameras appeared on telescopes, with the help of which it became possible to open very weak comets long before they appear near the Sun, i.e. Throughout the night, when the background of the sky is minimal. This immediately made itself felt by the number of discoveries of comets during the year. If earlier, thanks to mostly activity of amateurs, on average 6-7 comets opened, now, with the help of automated sensitive PZS-cameras on telescopes and the Soho orbital station, several dozens of, or even more than 200 new comets, it was until 1996, in which 44 comets were discovered, in 1997-104, in 1998-135, in 2000-134, in 2000-134, 2001 -148, in 2002 -181, in 2003 -193, in 2004 -221, in 2005 -221, in 2006 -205, in 2007 -223, in 2008 -220, in 2009 -227! It was a maximum of comet discoveries for one year.

Then a decline was outlined - in 2010 - 57, in 2011 - 49, in 2012 - 62 and in 2013 - 67 comets. An amateur contribution to the discoveries in these years was from 1 to 6 comets. In 2012-2013, the activity of lovers intensified, and they opened in 2012-8, and in 2013-14 comets! From 2010 to 2013, the first Russian and Belarusian lovers of astronomy-Leonid Elenin (2 comets), Artem Novichonok (2 comets), Vitaly Nevsky (2 comets), Vladimir Gerke (1), Gennady Borisov (2), whom I want to cordially congratulate them through your newspaper and make success in the discoveries of new comets.

- The discovery of comets is a matter of lovers or professionals?

- Fans played a large role in the opening of comets, although professional astronomers also discovered many comets. The “comet boom” in Europe began after the Comet Galley appeared in 1758 strictly on the prediction made by Edmund Galley in 1682. Immediately everyone began to buy telescopes, prices for them decreased.

A professional drawing, and then a professional astronomer, a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences, Clovers Cometes Charles Messier (Charles Messier, 1730-1817) opened 11 comets single-handedly, and another 1 along with P. Meshenom. And in order to make it convenient to look for comets, a catalog of 110 foggy and star clusters made a catalog. In their appearance, they look like comets: also have a blurry shell around the central condensation.

Jean-Louis Pons (Jean-Louis Pons, 1761-1831), the guard of the Marseille Observatory, then who became the director of the La Marlia observatory near the Italian city of Lucca, opened 26 comets. He himself polished the lenses and made telescopes to search for comets.

Then a new technique came, light -linked telescopes appeared, and they began to photograph the sky. But not the whole celestial sphere, but some part. The main part of the sky is in the area of ​​ecliptic, there are usually comets, in which the orbits have a small inclination. Professionals and amateurs searched and found many periodic comets. At one time, the Czech astronomer Antonin Mrkos (1918–1996) became famous, who opened 13 comets in the 50-60s. Japanese Minor Honda (1913-1990) opened 12 comets. Then, in the first place in the opening of comets (32 comets), American astronomers, spouses of Carolin (Carolyn Shoemaker) and Eugene Shoemaker (Eugene Shoemaker, are the first person whose remains are buried on the Moon. - Ed.), They had a professional light -linked telescope. The noisycles, along with David Levy (David Levy), opened a comet that crashed into Jupiter in 1994. Levy himself opened 6 comets alone and at the same time with other observers of another 16 comets, that is, only 22 comets, which is the seventh result as of mid -May 2014.

Now, with the help of alposal telescopes and PZs, many lovers are observing. Some of them have already opened from 10 to 26 comets. Among these new discoverers, it should be noted Rick Hil-La (26 comets, as much as Ponce, but with POZS-Camerus), Andrea Boattini (25), Alex Djibs (23), Eric Kristensen (20), William Bredfield (18)-unlike others, only visually, Gordon Garredd (17), Brian Skif (16), Jin Muller. (15), Don Maychgoulz (11 and also only visually). But the most famous Robert H. McNaught from Australia, which had already opened 82 comets, including 29 short -periodic ones, became famous. This is a record of all time. True, he discovered all his comets with a sensitive PZS-Camer and with a 50-centimeter telescope Schmidt.

However, special telescopes or spacecraft are found even more comets. So, for example, the team of the search laboratory for near -Earth asteroids named after Lincoln (Linear, The Lincoln Near-Earth Asteroid Research) is looking for dangerous asteroids approaching the ground. In addition to more than 200 thousand asteroids, they have already opened 244 comets. 1877 Cometes opened the SOHO spacecraft (Solar and Heliosphereic Observatory), launched jointly by NASA and ESA to monitor the sun. He opens purely specific sangraiters comets that pass through the crown of the sun. The temperature of 2 million kelvins in the crown is very difficult to withstand. Some burn, while others go around the sun and fly further, significantly losing in the mass.

Fans are actively using SOHO photos and open comets on them. All of them receive the name SOHO, and the amateur who first noticed her in the picture is considered a pioneer, but they are not called a comet in his name.

The comet receives the name of the discoverer if the amateur found it with the help of a telescope. For example, Ikeiya Secrets, Honda. They conducted searches with small telescopes. The American astronomer-amateur Richard A. Kowalski opened nine comets, one of them was considered a “lost” comet opened by Edward Pigott in 1783. There are many lovers who have already discovered several comets (within the first ten), and they are called the names of the discoverers.

- Please tell us how you managed to open a comet, to which Rosetta is now flying.

- We went with Svetlana Gerasimenko to Kazakhstan as professionals, we had a special task of searching and observing comets. In 1969, we arrived, began to observe comets, saw a dozen famous comets (cometa Faya, Comas Sol and others). Usually we immediately looked at photographic plate. If you saw an interesting object, then they were immediately processed, determined whether this is a comet, or maybe a glare -an alloy happens.

Once Sveta took a photographic plate, and I watched another telescope. It was September 11, 1969. When she showed, she did not have enough the developer. In the center where the comet was located, there was a small, bright and noticeable spot. Sveta even wanted to break the record and throw it out, thinking that she ruined her. It is good that Professor Dmitry Alexandrovich Rozhkovsky kept her from this, because even if the records with defects, they still need to be dried, rinsed and viewed. Before that, we removed two plates with her, the same area. Then she left, and a week later, on September 21, 1969, I shot two more photo -plastes.

When we returned to Kyiv, we began to process records. The spot was suspicious, we processed it, received its equatorial coordinates. But this is not enough to determine the orbit of the object, if it really was a trace on the record from the new comet. At least three exact positions of the comet are needed. And we still had 4 records to which the same area of ​​the sky was exhibited. If this is a comet, then it should get there. These records looked and on their very edge we found 4 images of a new comet. This pleased us and inspired.

We immediately sent a message to the United States at the Central Bureau of Astronomical Telegrams. After the opening, a month had passed and there was a risk that another observer had already opened the comet. But there was. When our telegram came to the discoveries bureau, Professor Brian Marsden (Brian Geeffrey Marsden) looked at our data, determined the orbit and immediately said that this was a new comet. So we became her discoverers. It turned out to be periodic with the period of circulation at 6.5 years. This is a rarity among a large number of comets and pleasant news for us. The comet will return to the ground every six and a half years!

- Where does she fly away during this time?

- She flies over the orbit of Jupiter, this is a typical comet of the Jupiter family. She had an interesting evolution. If you calculate the evolution of the orbit, i.e. As she moved in the past, 10 years before our opening, she passed very close to Jupiter. The planet greatly changed its orbit. The comet approached the ground, became brighter, and thanks to this we were able to find it. If there was no rapprochement with Jupiter, then she would spin and spin in the asteroid belt so far, and no one could find it there.

Now, thanks to the modern technique, comet and the weakest objects can be opened in the asteroid belt and behind the belt. Then this was done only from photographs, we used the technique that was used in those days.

- It seems to you why your comet attracted the attention of the European Space Agency? Why was the interplanetary probe sent to this comet?

- It belongs to periodic, to the Jupiter family. You can send a spacecraft only to a comet, which has repeatedly returned to the sun, which has a proven, accurate orbit so as not to miss. With a new comet, you can easily miss, her orbit cannot be accurately determined due to ignorance of illiteration forces in one appearance of a comet. Only a short -period comet was needed, which had already returned to the ground several times.

Our comet is such that the inclination of its plane to the ecliptic is 7 degrees. The slope is small, so it can easily approach the device. On the other hand, when they planned the flight of Rosetta Space Probe, they chose another comet - the comet of Virtanen, it has a small nucleus with a diameter of 1.2 km. Our core has more - 3 by 5 km.

Europeans conducted calculations and prepared the equipment to gently land on the comet of Virtanen. But on the eve of the launch of the device, problems arose with the Aryan-5 launch vehicle, the launch fell, and it has a narrow window at 2 weeks. If you go out in 2 weeks, you will not get to the chosen comet. This is due to the fact that both the earth and the comet are moving. When the device is launched from the ground, it moves in almost the same plane as the comet and the planet; And the meeting will occur in one plane. Thus, the first launch of Rosette on January 12, 2003 broke.

They began to choose another comet. There were a lot of discussions, and the point of view won that the most convenient for rapprochement is the comet Churumov - Gerasimenko. We were very happy because the probability of such a selection is very small. If you take periodic comets, there are about 550 of them, then the probability of 1/550. And if you take all comets, then there are trillion of them in the solar system. The likelihood that our comets were selected, one trillion. It pleased us very much.

- And they called you, informed, or did you know?

- And all the time we were aware, we saw a discussion on correspondence. Then the commission gathered and decided to send the device in February 2004. There were two postponed attempts to launch, and finally the device was sent towards the comet on March 2, 2004.

Since the launch of Rosetta, it was possible to take photos of the asteroids Steins (2008) and Lutetia (2010). Then the device went into sleep mode. On January 20, 2014, Rosettu was woke up, she handed everyone hello to everyone. At the flight control center, everything slammed their hands: for the tenth year of the flight, having slept for 3 years, the device woke up in excellent condition.

Why is such a long flight provided? Because you need to definitely get closer to the cow's core. Fuel cannot be spent a lot. It is only one and a half tons and it is intended for the subtle and accurate correction of the orbit when switching to an orbital flight with a radius of 25 km around the nucleus and on landing “Phil” on the nucleus. Therefore, other energy sources need to be used. Which? The gravitational attraction of the planets, the strength of which depends on the distance to the planet. Three times the apparatus passed next to the ground at different distances (2005, 2007 and 2009), the land pushed it. And once he flew near Mars (2007).

Of the two asteroids that Rosetta photographed along the way, Steins, opened in the Crimean observatory, is especially interesting in Ukraine. He has a form like rhombus, trapezoids, like a diamond. Therefore, craters on this asteroid named in honor of precious stones. The largest crater is a diameter of 2.1 km. The diameters of three more craters (zircon, chrysoberilla and onyx) are more than 1 km. The rest are less than 1 km - emerald, malachite, opal, sapphire, grenade, etc. There are others: Halzedon, chrysolite ... But one area that has no craters is named after the asteroid of the Crimean astronomer Nikolai Chernykh. And now Rosetta is moving towards our object.

From the comet at the end of May, Rosett will be at a distance of about 550 thousand km. And on November 11, a historical event will take place - the world's first planting of the apparatus on the cow’s nucleus! It will spin, transmit the image of the comet. A globe of comets will be built to find five even sites for planting.

A landing module called “Philae Lander) will fall into one of these sites. This is an island on the Nile, where an obelisk was found, with the help of which it was possible to decipher the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on the Rosett stone. After the descent device sits down, drilling, study of the substance will begin.

This substance is primary, from it 4.5 billion years ago, a solar system was formed, planets formed. And the comets retained this substance in its original form. The planets processed it, because due to gravity this substance was compressed. The sun is also from the primary matter. But thermonuclear reactions in the bowels of the Sun changed this substance beyond recognition, and there we see mainly hydrogen and helium. There are other small impurities.
And nothing has changed in comets, there, as in the refrigerator, the substance in frozen form has been preserved. What did the comets give the earth? They brought water to Earth, because 3-4 billion years ago there was a powerful bombardment of the planet comets. They poured out of a cornucopia. And in comets about 80% is ice. Something evaporated, and something filled the hollows on the planet, and oceans formed on Earth. The fact that the source of water on Earth was comets is confirmed by the isotopic composition of water in the nuclei of comets and water on our planet.

Comets have complex organics. For example, glycine is an amino acid. And without it, not a single living creature is complete. It remains to find amino acids from which DNA-ADENIN (A), guanine (G), cytosine (C) and Timin (T) are formed-and of which the spirals of our DNA molecules consist. This is a spiral, that is, a periodic structure, and when it is divided, any part of this spiral is reproduced, and it is immortal, while there is water, oxygen, warm on Earth. So life originated on Earth. It is difficult to say how this happened, the probability is very small, but, nevertheless, it happened. And the comet has become a source of life on Earth.

- How many comets do you need so that oceans appear?

- Trillions of comets.

- Why did they fall to the ground before, but now not?

- Already almost all are exhausted. The bodies that flew past the earth were attracted to it as a vacuum cleaner. But in space, there is still a lot of fragments.

- And how did you even decide to become an astronomer? You were born in 1937. In 1953, when Stalin died, you are 16 years old. What influenced your choice?

- At first I studied at a technical school, finished it with honors, then I entered the University of Kiev. I entered and passed exams for the Faculty of Physics. At the Faculty of Physics, there was a department of astronomy. At first I wanted to go to theoretical physics, but there were few places. Therefore, I was delegated to the optics department. Optics is a good science, but I did not like that I was sent there contrary to my desire. Then we were told that there are vacant places at the department of astronomy. "Come on guys." Well, my friend and I went, took us because we studied well. We studied astronomy, gradually got involved. Потом защитили сначала кандидатские, а потом и докторские.

— Как появился интерес к кометам?

— Моей темой была как раз физика комет. Мой научный руководитель -известный кометолог С.К. Всехсвятский. Я к нему поступил в аспирантуру, он мне назначил тему. Я начал изучать, наблюдать, открыл комету, и не одну. Вторую открыл в 1986 году.

— Чем интересная вторая?

— Она долгопериодическая, ее орбитальный период — 4 тыс. лет. Когда она удалялась, на орбите Марса у нее все еще было горячее ядро. Удивительно, какой у нее внутренний источник? Возможно, распадались какие-то радиоактивные элементы в недрах ее ядра.

— Куда она улетает?

— Она улетела за границу Солнечной системы. Вернется через 4 тысячи лет.

— Наши потомки ее увидят.

— Потомки ее несомненно увидят и разберутся, почему она долго-долго была теплой, судя по ее инфракрасному излучению.

— А что вы думаете о Тунгусском метеорите?

— Я думаю, что это было ядро кометы. Оно влетело в атмосферу, произошел взрыв. Это было рыхлое тело. Атмосфера Земли обладает малой плотностью, но оказывает сильное сопротивление, особенно рыхлым телам. В результате возникла мощная ударная волна, снежный ком нагрелся и взорвался, рассыпался, поэтому не нашли ни кусочка. Еще три белые ночи в южных широтах — это трое суток Земля проходила через пылевой хвост кометы. Так что это явно была комета, не надо даже думать.

— Как бы вы прокомментировали ситуацию с Крымской обсерваторией? Между Россией и Украиной — сложный конфликт, и что теперь делать с обсерваторией?

— При советской власти всё это была единая страна. Мы проводили наблюдения и в Казахстане, и в Узбекистане, и много наблюдали на Кавказе. Сейчас поехать туда трудно. Печально, что Россия так обижает Украину. Ученые не виноваты, они ни при чем. Будем сотрудничать. Может быть, будут сложности в поездках.

— Будут ли украинские ученые ездить в Крымскую обсерваторию или нет?

— Конечно, да. Рано или поздно всё вернется на круги своя. Весь мир выступил против этого, это нарушения международных норм и соглашений. Путин возомнил, что он бог и царь. Зачем России засушливый Крым, если в России пустует огромное количество необжитых земель? Я ездил по центральной России, там брошенные села, пустые дома. Это огромные территории, сотни и тысячи сел. Нужно развивать свою страну — делать ее цветущей и богатой. Надо дружить и сотрудничать.

— Какова сейчас ситуация с украинской астрономией, астрофизикой? В стране всплеск любительской астрономии? Я знаю, что есть большой спрос на покупку телескопов.

— Покупают, интересуются. Мне много пишут, рассказывают, что наблюдают. Я стараюсь каждому ответить.

— А есть среди живущих на Украине первооткрыватели комет?

— За всё время на Украине открыто 13 комет. А сейчас в Крыму ведет наблюдения астроном-любитель Геннадий Борисов, экс-сотрудник ГАИШ, открывший две кометы и опасный для Земли астероид; он без работы, но, может, сейчас ему дадут работу, учитывая его замечательные открытия.

— Что происходит с академической астрономией? Как бы вы описали ситуацию?

— Украина — это астрономическая страна. Когда развалился Союз, Украине отошло 10 обсерваторий, это много. Украина продолжает держать высокую планку в мире, у нас много великолепных результатов, и в том числе по открытиям комет и астероидов. Особенно астероидов. На Крымской обсерватории найдено больше 1200 малых планет. В Харькове работают профессора Борис Кащеев и Юрий Волощук, посвятившие свою жизнь наблюдениям ночных и дневных метеорных потоков радиолокационным способом. Так они определили 230 тыс. орбит и более 4 тыс. новых метеорных потоков и ассоциаций. Это уникальная база, нигде в мире такой нет. В области малых тел, к которым относят кометы, астероиды и метеорное вещество, у нас поразительные результаты по открытиям. Солнечники наши и планетчики славятся своими работами. Мы сильны во внегалактической астрономии, космологии.

— Что с финансированием?

— С финансированием плохо. Бюджет постоянно сокращают. В прошлом году сократили на 20%. Пришлось уволить сотрудников. В первую очередь пенсионеров. Но на пенсию трудно выжить, тем более в условиях быстрого падения гривни, поэтому уволенные пишут кляузы-телеги, хотя планка научных результатов у них на самом деле низкая.

— Каков размер пенсии у ученых?

— Научная пенсия неплохая. 80% от зарплаты — это довольно прилично. У меня пенсия 6200 гривен. Раньше это было 750 долларов, а сейчас курс резко упал, сейчас это менее 500 долларов. Но я все-таки профессор, доктор физ.-мат. наук, членкор НАН, и за счет этого как-то держусь на плаву.

А вот моя жена 40 лет проработала преподавателем физики в вузах, с большой горловой нагрузкой и работала все время на ногах, отчего заработала острый тромбофлебит, с трудом переносила сильные боли во время чтения лекций. За такой тяжелый труд по истечении 40 лет она получает сейчас пенсию чуть больше 100 долларов США. Разве это не рабский труд за копейки?

— Можно ли на такие деньги прожить?

— Конечно, тяжело. Тем более жена у меня после инсульта, ее надо лечить. Я работаю, благодаря этому мы еще выживаем. Но я работаю не на полную, а на 8/10 ставки.

— Мне рассказывали, что вы вели научно-популярный журнал, а потом перестали.

— Потому что некому финансировать. Журналу нужен редактор, я бесплатно работал. Нужен наборщик, нужен верстальщик. Я умею верстать, но у меня времени нет, своей работы хватает. Журнал был очень популярен, его очень любили. Жалею, что он сейчас не издается. Но мы его иногда издаем, и в настоящее время будем выпускать его в электронном виде, так что я приглашаю всех любителей астрономии присылать свои астрономические наблюдения- будем публиковать их в Интернете.

— Можно ли сравнить его с журналом «Вселенная, пространство, время»? В чем были отличия?

— У нас отличия в том, что мы больше публиковали статьи, рассчитанные на любителей астрономии. А Сергей Гордиенко в своем журнале популяризирует всё, не только астрономию, но и науки о Земле, сильно пропагандирует авиацию, космическую технику. У него очень хороший популярный журнал, где публикуются известные астрономы, и другие ученые.

— Ваш журнал издавался на русском?

— На украинском.

— Вы являетесь директором Киевского планетария. Есть ли интерес к нему у детей, у молодежи?

— У нас есть абонементы для школьников от 1 до 11 классов. Раньше билеты были подешевле. 200 киевских школ регулярно брали абонементы, приводили своих школьников на наши лекции. Был большой интерес, просветительская работа шла на высоком уровне. Но и сейчас интерес к планетарию не иссякает, хотя число слушателей в последнее время уменьшилось из-за повышения цен на билеты и абонементы и падения гривны.

— Как вы относитесь к полнокупольным программам для планетариев?

— Это шоу. Можно посмотреть один-два раза, и всё. А знания дают лекции, только там можно задать вопрос и получить ответ. Лекции читают профессионалы. А в фильмах много ошибок, но смотреть познавательно, что тоже не плохо. На мой взгляд, планетарии должны сочетать полнокупольные программы и постоянно обновляющиеся астрономические лекции. Только так можно будет иметь возможность вести активную просветительскую деятельность и нести свет новых научных знаний всем людям и особенно подрастающему поколению.

— Директор планетария Вооруженных сил в Москве Лариса Александровна Панина (вы, наверное, ее знаете) говорит, что без устных живых лекций планетарий умирает. Вы, наверное, с ней согласитесь.

— Сейчас все переходят на готовые полнокупольные фильмы. Но это уже не планетарии, это кинотеатры. Теряется уникальная атмосфера. Планетариями это можно называть уже условно. Только комбинация новых оригинальных планетарских программ с профессиональными лекторами-астрономами, которыми сейчас располагает Киевский планетарий, и с показом самых интересных космических явлений и открытий во Вселенной на весь 24-м купол нашего планетария может высоко поднять роль планетария, как наиболее эффективного просветительского учреждения в стране.

— Много ли неизвестного осталось о кометах?

- Yes. Главное — узнать истинный химический, элементный, органический и изотопный составы кометного вещества… Мы видим в спектрах обломки сложных молекул, т.е. молекулы с двумя, тремя и более атомами или только отдельные атомы. Если сложная молекула развалилась, по ее обломкам восстановить первоначальную родительскую молекулу не всегда полностью удается, как и расшифровать истинный состав кометного вещества. Многие плазменные структуры в хвостах еще не имеют адекватных физических моделей, не решен вопрос ионизации атомов и молекул в кометах и многое другое. Вот это и есть фундаментальные нерешенные проблемы для будущих астрономов-исследователей комет.

Фотографии из личного архива К.И. Чурюмова, схема полета «Розетты» из www.wikipedia.ru

Благодарим Владимира Сурдина за помощь в подготовке интервью.