Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Jul 17, 2006 0:20:09 GMT -6
Asteroid named after JKR
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling now has an asteroid named in her honor. The honor was bestowed by the International Astronomical Union, who named asteroid # 43844 'Rowling.' Dr. Mark Hammergren who discovered the asteroid, is an Astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago and submitted the name 'Rowling' to the committee for consideration.
The citation reads:
(43844) Rowling = 1993 OX2
The British author Joanne "Jo" Rowling (b. 1965) is best known for her beloved fantasy series featuring the young wizard Harry Potter. Her books have won numerous awards, inspired a love of reading in children around the world and entertained millions of all ages.
More info about the Asteroid:
July 14, 2006, 7:18 pm | J.K. Rowling
Coming to a Galaxy Near You, It's Asteroid Rowling!
Author J.K. Rowling now has an asteroid named in her honor. This galactic news was unveiled earlier this year, as the International Astronomical Union named asteroid # 43844 after the Harry Potter author. This asteroid was discovered by Dr. Mark Hammergren, who is an astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. Dr Hammergren is also quite a Harry Potter fan, and is the one who submitted the name Rowling to the committe for consideration.
"The asteroid Rowling takes 4.6 years to go around the Sun, at an average distance of 2.77 Astronomical Units from the Sun (which translates to 257 million miles or 414 million kilometers). The asteroid's diameter is not well known, but given how much light it reflects to our telescopes (not much), it is likely in the range of 1.5-3.5 miles across (2.5-5.5 kilometers). It resides in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and is not visible without a large telescope. It's orbit does not come anywhere near the Earth's orbit, so there is currently no danger of a collision.
Source here: www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/indext.php
www.hpana.com/news.19493.html
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Quite cool to have discovered the Asteroid. Mark is a nice guy at the Adler and happy for him!..
