Pelageya Shajn

Minor planets discovered: 19<ref name="MPC-Discoverers" />

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Pelageya Fedorovna Shajn, née Sannikova (Пелагея Фёдоровна Шайн) (22 September 1894 – 27 August 1956), was a Russian astronomer in the Soviet Union, and the first woman credited with the discovery of a minor planet, at the Simeiz Observatory in 1928.<ref name="Asteroid-Pelagia" /><ref name="Bio-in-Russian" /> Pelageya also discovered numerous variable stars and co-discovered the periodic, Jupiter-family comet 61P/Shajn–Schaldach. She was married to prominent Soviet astronomer Grigory Shajn.

Biography

Pelageya Shajn was born in 1894 to a peasant family in the village Ostanin located in the Solikamsky District of the Perm Governorate.<ref name="Bio-in-Russian" /> She was the wife of prominent Soviet astronomer Grigory Shajn, who was also her colleague at the Simeiz Observatory. Her maiden name was Sannikova (Санникова).<ref name="Encyclopedia-Springer" /><ref name="Bio-in-Russian" /> In 1928, she discovered the asteroid 1112 Polonia, the first minor planet to be discovered by a woman.<ref name="Asteroid-Polonia" />

She died 27 August 1956, shortly after her husband had died on 4 August the same year.<ref name="Encyclopedia-Springer" />

Awards and honors

Main-belt asteroid 1190 Pelagia, discovered in 1930 by Grigory Neujmin who worked at Simeiz, was named in her honor.<ref name="Asteroid-Pelagia" /> In addition the asteroid 1648 Shajna was named in her and her husband's memory,<ref name="Asteroid-Shajna" /> while the lunar crater Shayn was exclusively named after her husband.<ref name="WGPSN-lunar-crater" />

Discoveries

Her astronomical discoveries are credited under the name P. F. Shajn. As with her husband, her last name, "Shajn", is sometimes given as "Schajn", "Shain" or "Shayn", the latter being the modern English transliteration.<ref name="Encyclopedia-Springer" />

Pelageya Shajn discovered 19 minor planets (see list below)<ref name="MPC-Discoverers" /> and about 140 variable stars.<ref name="CrAO-Variable-Star-Discoveries" /> In 1949, she also co-discovered 61P/Shajn–Schaldach, a periodic comet of the Jupiter family.<ref name="jpldata-61P" /> However, the non-periodic comet C/1925 F1 (Shajn-Comas Solá; also known as Comet 1925 VI or Comet 1925a) was co-discovered by her husband rather than by her.

List of discovered minor planets

1112 Polonia	15 August 1928	Template:LoMP
1113 Katja	15 August 1928	Template:LoMP
1120 Cannonia	11 September 1928	Template:LoMP
1121 Natascha	11 September 1928	Template:LoMP
1369 Ostanina	27 August 1935	Template:LoMP
1387 Kama	27 August 1935	Template:LoMP
1390 Abastumani	3 October 1935	Template:LoMP
1475 Yalta	21 September 1935	Template:LoMP
1610 Mirnaya	11 September 1928	Template:LoMP
1648 Shajna	5 September 1935	Template:LoMP

1654 Bojeva	8 October 1931	Template:LoMP
1735 ITA	10 September 1948	Template:LoMP
1954 Kukarkin	15 August 1952	Template:LoMP
1987 Kaplan	11 September 1952	Template:LoMP
2108 Otto Schmidt	4 October 1948	Template:LoMP
2445 Blazhko	3 October 1935	Template:LoMP
3080 Moisseiev	3 October 1935	Template:LoMP
3958 Komendantov	10 October 1953	Template:LoMP
5533 Bagrov	21 September 1935	Template:LoMP

See also

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Further reading

• Мишланова Л. Самостоянье (Mishlanova L. Samostoyaniya): "Очерки о людях науки и культуры Пермского края. Пермь" (Essays of men on science and culture of Perm Krai). Пушка, 2006. 320 с.: ил., Из содерж.: Планета Пелагея (Planet Pelagia). С. 27-33.: фот.