Asteroid Named After Leonard Nimoy

Posted June 14th, 2015 by Becky Feldman

‘Star Trek’ fans were devastated by the loss of Leonard Nimoy back in February, but the iconic television star will be immortalized because an asteroid has recently been named after him.

Called 4864 Nimoy, the asteroid is located within the belt between Mars and Jupiter. It orbits the sun every 3.9 years. Initially discovered in 1988, it’s around 10 km across and likely contains ice within it.

Here’s a brief statement:

Discovered 1988 Sept. 2 by H. Debehogne at the European Southern Observatory. Leonard Nimoy (1931-2015) was an American actor, film director and poet. Best known for his portrayal of the half-Vulcan/half-human science officer Spock in the original “Star Trek” TV series and subsequent movies, Nimoy wrote two autobiographies: ‘I Am Not Spock’ (1975) and ‘I Am Spock’ (1995).

‘Slates’’s astronomy blogger Phil Plait included an orbital diagram displaying 4864 Nimoy on the day he passed. Take a look.

Diagram by NASA / JPL / Ron Baalke

Source: Slate

Becky Feldman

Becky used to play Power Rangers with her Barbies as a kid. She was a huge fan of Batman: The Animated Series, probably because it came on before the Power Rangers. Currently, she is living in California, pursuing her dreams of becoming an actor/writer/Black Ops agent who only fights mean demons. She’s written for Funny or Die, as well as some jokes for TV shows that were too good to air. You can also see some of her sketches performed live at the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre in Los Angeles. They’re mostly about the Power Rangers.