The discoverer of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko died at the age of 81.

The discoverer of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, astronomer Svetlana Gerasimenko died at the age of 80. This was announced on April 8 at the Institute of Astrophysics of the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan.

"Svetlana Ivanovna Gerasimenko, an outstanding scientist and discoverer of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, died at the age of 81," the institution's Facebook page says (it belongs to the recognized extremist Meta company, its activities are banned in the Russian Federation).

The Institute noted that Gerasimenko was one of the most prominent astronomers of the USSR and Tajikistan. Her death was a great loss for science, the NAS emphasized.

Gerasimenko was born on February 23, 1945 in the village of Baryshevka, Ukrainian SSR. During a scientific expedition in September 1969, she and Soviet astronomer Klim Churyumov discovered a previously unknown comet. The celestial body was named after its discoverers.