Asteroid Named After Thomas Pynchon
Eros, a near-Earth asteroid NASA/JHU/APL In the November 20 edition of the Minor Planet Circular, 49 minor planets got new names. Many are named after fellow scientists, such as Jeffrich (Jeffrey Rich Jr.) or the discoverer. But then there's some that are named after other Earthlings of import. In this particular Circular, an amateur astronomer from Italy, Ernesto Guido, named the asteroid formerly known as 152319 (2005 UH7) after novelist Thomas Pynchon. His reasoning? "[T]o honor great American novelist Thomas Pynchon known almost exclusively through his writing, dense and complex." The process for naming minor planets, such as the Pynchon asteroid, is quite long—Pynchon, for example, was discovered in 2005. It starts with confirming the minor planet was indeed discovered, and not an already-identified object. It is then assigned a number name, and the discoverer is invited to propose a new name. Proposed names are then...