The world of astronomy has lost one of its stars.<br /><br /> Soviet-Ukrainian astronomer Klim Churyumov has died aged 79.<br /><br /> He is the man who discovered comet 67P -Churyumov-Gerasimenko with astronomer Svetlana Gerasimenko in 1969.<br /><br /> It was the comet which the Rosetta space mission successfully landed its philae lander on in 2014.<br /><br /> IamComet67P RIP prof. #Churyumov. Your name will stay in the memory of #Space #Rosetta fans. It was a honour to get an interview with you pic.twitter.com/c8aK0ufgAV— stroclaudio (@RosmiNow) October 15, 2016<br /> <br /><br /> Director of the Kyiv planetarium, he has authored 800 scientific papers as well as four text books.<br /><br /> He had been one of the contenders for a collective Nobel prize this year.<br />
