Asteroid named after Hitchens

[ignorantianescia]

According to Vanity Fair:

An asteroid discovered by Ted Bowell, the former director of the Lowell Observatory Near-Earth-Object Search, has been named after Vanity Fair contributing editor Christopher Hitchens. The asteroid orbits Mars, Jupiter, and Earth. It’s an ironic but fitting honor for an iconoclast who has spent much of his life shaking his fist at the heavens and the deities they may or may not host.

www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/12/Asteroid-Named-for-Christopher-Hitchens

[sandwiches]

I am not meaning to diss Hitchens but....

www.space.com/13184-asteroids-names-tom-hanks-meg-ryan.html


Other objects making their closest approaches to Earth this month include: asteroid 3656 Hemingway, asteroid 7032 Hitchcock, asteroid 4457 van Gogh, asteroid 18932 Robinhood, asteroid 2919 Dali, asteroid 2266 Tchaikovsky, asteroid 3769 Arthurmiller, and asteroid 214476 Stephencolbert. [7 Strangest Asteroids in the Solar System]

Asteroid 12818 Tomhanks swung within about 151 million miles of Earth on Sept. 12, while 8353 Megryan came about 191 million miles away on Sept. 27. Neither came closer than the distance between the Earth and the sun, and they did not pose any risk to our planet.


These days, Spacewatch alone discovers between 3,000 and 4,000 new asteroids a night at Kitt Peak, Scotti said. They are easy to pick out against the backdrop of stars because, though they look like a simple speck of light, they move. When astronomers expose their cameras for five minutes, the stars stay in their places, but asteroids streak across the frame.

"Asteroids are a dime a dozen really," Scotti said. "We actually have way more than we could possibly ever name."