Minor planet named after famous Thai astronomer

Founder of Bangkok Planetarium Thai astronomer Singto Pukahuta who died in 2007 gets small planet named after him to immortalize his name.

ASTRONOMY

Minor planet named after famous Thai astronomer

19/02/2017
Apinya Wipatayotin

A new minor planet will be named after the famous Thai astronomer Singto Pukahuta.

1989 CN was discovered on Feb 4, 1989, by two Japanese astronomers.

Singto measures 3.96 kilometres in diameter and orbits between Mars and Jupiter (for more info see here, here & here).

Minor planets are defined as large objects in outer space that orbit around the Sun, including asteroids but excluding planets, dwarf planets and comets, "as of 2016, the orbits of 709,706 minor planets were archived at the Minor Planet Center, 469,275 of which had received permanent numbers" (see here).

FAMOUS THAI ASTRONOMER

Singto, who was born in 1915, was a prominent astronomer, educator and author as well as a founder and director of the Bangkok Planetarium and president of the Thai Astronomical Society (TAS).

He wrote Star Tales, which is regarded as one of 100 good books that Thai children should read, Mr Wimut said.

Singto was also former president of the Thai Astronomical Society (TAS).

The astronomer passed away in 2007 at the age of 92.

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION BESTOWS NAME ON MINOR PLANET 

Wimut Wasalai, a committee member of the TAS, said the International Astronomical Union (IAU) on Feb 12 officially bestowed the name of Singto on minor planet 1989 CN (6125) following the society's request.

Mr Wimut said the IAU gave the TAS the opportunity to name this new minor planet due to it winning the majority of votes for a newly discovered star in late 2015 with the name 47 Ursae Majoris.

100,000 MINOR PLANETS AWAITING NAMES

"It's the first time the society has had the honour of naming a minor planet and the name of Singto came up as he greatly contributed to Thai astronomy," he said.

"Our society is very proud to have his name on the minor planet."

"It will be an inspiration for young Thais to study space and science so that one day new planets may be named after them," he said.

He added that there are about 100,000 minor planets waiting for names.

There are various ways of naming planets including naming contests for the most creative name (see here & here).

HOW ARE MINOR PLANETS NAMED?

There is a planet named Mongkut in honour of King Rama IV, also known as King Mongkut, who was the father of science.

In total, there are more than 10 minor planets named after Thai people.

However, most of the names are those of ex-students who won science and technology projects.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1200861/tas-bestows-thai-name-on-minor-planet

http://www.tnnthailand.com/news_detail.php?id=129247&t=news

https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2017/02/these-poor-planets-are-why-the-internet-shouldnt-be-allowed-to-name-things/

http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=6125

http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=6125

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_belt

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