Cool Space Objects Named For 4 Famous People

Astronomers discover new space objects like planets and asteroids all the time, so coming up with clever names can be a bit of a challenge. With many of these objects, they are given names derived from the telescope that was used to detect them or when they were found. Others get more special treatment — the heavens are full of things named for famous people, like favorite actors and the pioneers of aviation.

Amelia Earhart

Saturn’s rings contain propeller-shaped gaps in their material. They happen when tiny moons in right orbits around Saturn, which are called “moonlets,” barrel through the dust of the ring and clear the space immediately in front of and behind them. The propeller features don’t have official names, but NASA refers to the most intriguing ones by the names of famous aviators. Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and who went missing in 1937 while trying to fly around the world, is one.

Read: Old Asteroids Show How the Planets Formed

Tom Hanks

An asteroid discovered in 1996 has been named after the veteran actor Tom Hanks, and it has been a cheeky little space rock. 12818 Tomhanks is more than 3 miles across and is the namesake of the man who portrayed astronaut Jim Lovell in the movie “Apollo 13,” based on the NASA moon mission in which an equipment failure caused the astronauts to turn back for Earth before their lunar landing. Hanks also starred in the romantic comedies “Sleepless in Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail” across from Meg Ryan, and apparently his asteroid wanted to hang out with Ryan as well — 12818 Tomhanks and asteroid 8353 Megryan, which were discovered and named separately, made headlines in 2011 when they both made their closest approaches to Earth that September.

Anne Frank

This asteroid, dubbed 5535 Annefrank, was first discovered in March 1942, a few months before Jewish teenager Anne Frank went into hiding with her family in an attic in Amsterdam, during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Writing down her experiences in her now famous diary, she remained hidden for two years until the Germans discovered their “secret annex” and sent her to a concentration camp. She died in Auschwitz, the most notorious Holocaust camp, shortly before World War II ended. The asteroid was later named in her honor, on the 50th anniversary of her death in 1995. The NASA spacecraft Stardust flew by 5535 Annefrank in 2002 and found it to be about 4 miles long and 3 miles wide, “almost twice as big as expected based on ground observations,” NASA reported. “According to Stardust scientists, that size is similar to the asteroid that likely killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.”

Read: How NASA Would “Armageddon” an Asteroid Coming for Earth

Neil deGrasse Tyson

An astrophysicist and the director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City, Neil deGrasse Tyson is best known for bringing science to the public, discussing it in simple terms and cracking science-themed jokes on social media. He also has a presence in the heavens, since asteroid 13123 Tyson was named for him. The rock was discovered in 1994, is about 6.8 miles across and orbits the sun from a distance between Mars and Jupiter — the location of the asteroid belt — going around about once every 3.6 years.