Someone I know got a planet named after them

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Just now I was Googling for old friends and acquaintances and discovered that someone I know has had a planet named after him:

Back in the early 1990s, Ross Parker and I were active on the BBS scene and members of the local Commodore users’ group. Ross also ran the BBS for the city’s astronomy club. Seems he particularly excelled at the latter hobby, as there’s now a minor planet named 10084 Rossparker, according to the International Astronomical Union.

Not being an astronomer myself, I have no idea how rare an honour this is, but I think it’s pretty cool nonetheless.

Anyone else here have any friends or relatives that have had celestial bodies named after them?

2

Wow!
Of course, its inhabitants probably have a different name for it…

(More seriously, it’s probable that other civilizations out here are bestowing their own names on some of the same lifeless planets we are).

3

With a diameter of just 3.9 km, it’s doubtful Rossparker has any inhabitants (even non-sentient ones). But if any do turn up, I’m sure we’ll learn about them soon, as the minor planet seems to be frequently observed by Earth telescopes.

4

Wow. The site says it was discovered in 1990…but there’s also an observation from 1980 (and one from 1989). That was from going over older imagery and noticing a previously undetected wobble in its star?

5

Okay, I’m an idiot. I confused “minor planet” (typically an asteroid) with “exoplanet.”

Never mind — carry on!

(My question about retroactive image detection still holds).

6

Yes, it means that it was captured in an image before, but the observer didn’t realize it was a (minor) planet, and it was ignored.

Later they went back through the image archives and found the earlier version. Such “precovery” findings are pretty common.

7

Not especially. There are hundreds of thousands of asteroids, you have to name them something.