Chernykh was born in the Russian city of
Usman in
Voronezh Oblast, in present-day
Lipetsk Oblast. He specialized in
astrometry and the dynamics of small bodies in the
Solar System and worked at the
Crimean Astrophysical Observatory from 1963. Chernykh discovered two periodic comets
74P/Smirnova–Chernykh and
101P/Chernykh. He also discovered a very large number of
asteroids, including notably
2867 Šteins and the Trojan asteroid
2207 Antenor. Chernykh worked with his wife and colleague
Lyudmila Chernykh. The asteroid
2325 Chernykh discovered in 1979 by Czech astronomer
Antonín Mrkos was named in their honour. == List of discovered minor planets ==