Smithsonian Astrophysical Laboratory in the U.S. city of Cambridge (Massachusetts) announced the laureates of the prestigious international award named after Edgar Wilson given for the discovery of new comets. Among them were three Russians - Leonid Elenin, Artem Novichonok and Vladimir Gerke.

Elenin, the member of the M.V. Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was awarded for the discovery of the Ð/2011 N1 comet in July 2011. The scientist receives this award for the second time in a row. Last year he was awarded for the discovery of the famous Ñ/2010 Õ1 comet which, according to advocates of the theory of "the end of the world", was to approach the Earth at a dangerous distance. Novichonok, the head of the "Asterion" observatory at the Petrozavodsk State University and his colleague Vladimir Gerke received the award for the joint discovery of the P/2011 R3 comet in September 2011.