Space & Astronomy

Asteroid is named in honor of Leonard Nimoy

By T.K. Randall
June 7, 2015 ·  11 comments

Nimoy at the Phoenix Comicon in 2011. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 2.0 Gage Skidmore Known the world over for portraying the half-human, half-Vulcan science officer Spock in the original Star Trek TV series and movies, Nimoy was highly regarded as an actor, a director, a poet and as one of the most recognizable faces in the world of science fiction.

Now in honor of his accomplishments an asteroid, one that was discovered in 1988 by Belgian astronomer Henri Debehogne, has been named after him with the moniker "4864 Nimoy".Measuring 10km across, the asteroid is located in the belt between Mars and Jupiter and can be observed with a 14-inch or larger telescope when it is brightest in the middle of July.

Nimoy himself died on February 27th of this year from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease aged 83 only a few days after posting one final and particularly poignant Tweet:

A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP

— Leonard Nimoy (@TheRealNimoy) February 23, 2015

His final appearance as Spock was in the 2013 movie Star Trek Into Darkness.

Source: Inquisitr.com | Comments (11)

Tags: Asteroid, Leonard Nimoy