C/1989 Y1 (Skorichenko–George)
comet

Comet Skorichenko–George (sometimes spelled Scorichenko–George), formally designated as C/1989 Y1, 1990 VI, and 1989e1, is a non-periodic comet co-discovered by astronomers Boris Skorichenko and Doug George on December 17, 1989. It has a hyperbolic trajectory around the Sun, but still weakly bound to it by its barycenter.
Discovery and observations
It was discovered on December 17, 1989 by Doug George of Kanata (near Ottawa), Ontario, Canada, and Soviet astronomer Boris Skoritchenko (Mezmay, Krasnodar Krai). Skoritchenko was using 8×20 binoculars, whilst George was using a 16" reflector and had searched for 65 hours. The comet was magnitude 10.5 in the northern evening sky. It passed its perihelion on April 11, 1990 at a distance of 1.57 AU (235 million km), and remained visible as a magnitude 9–10 object in the night sky until April 1990
C2 emission bands were observed in the comet Skorichenko-George. Unlike most comets, Skorichenko–George did not produce a tail. Its coma remained consistently diffuse, estimated to be around 190,000–290,000 km (120,000–180,000 mi) in diameter.
“C/1989 Y1 (Skorichenko–George)” enters the record as comet. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Skorichenko, George and comet can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“C/1989 Y1 (Skorichenko–George)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Skorichenko, George and comet provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2444771. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1989 and 1990.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “C/1989 Y1 (Skorichenko–George)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow C/1989 Y1 (Skorichenko–George) primary sources, C/1989 Y1 (Skorichenko–George) archive and Skorichenko research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “C/1989 Y1 (Skorichenko–George)”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “C/1989 Y1 (Skorichenko–George)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.