This undated image made available by NASA shows the asteroid Bennu from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. (source: AP/TASR)
Five years since the death of Slovak Catholic priest and dissident Anton Srholec, the well-known man has been honoured by astronomers by naming an asteroid after him.
Asteroid 544541, with its temporary designation 2014 WP73, has thus been named Srholec. The asteroid was discovered by amateur astronomer Štefan Kürti from Nové Zámky, Nitra Region, and his colleagues at the Piszkéstetői Obszervatórium in Hungary in March 2011.
“I wanted to pay tribute to Anton Srholec,” Kürti told the TASR newswire. “He faced problems under the Communist regime that punished him, but he did not give up and helped others throughout his life.”
The orbit of Asteroid Srholec and the location of the object and planets on the day of discovery, March 24, 2011. (source: Courtesy of Peter Vereš/TASR)
The Srholec asteroid, about two kilometres in diameter, orbits the Sun in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. It orbits the Sun once every 5.18 years.
Experienced astronomer
Kürti and his colleagues were the first to observe the asteroid a decade ago, but other observatories recorded the same asteroid a few days after their discovery. Further observations followed in 2014.
“It is common that the same asteroid is observed by several other astronomers,” he said.
For those to whom a discovery is attributed, the right to suggest the name of the new asteroid is then a type of reward, the Slovak amateur astronomer added.
Kürti is an experienced astronomer with a number of asteroid observations recorded in his list. Moreover, he has been attributed ten asteroid discoveries so far, which he could then name.
Asteroids related to Slovakia
Kürti’s recent name proposal, Srholec, was approved by the International Astronomical Union and published in a September bulletin along with other 36 names.
Srholec is one of 22,763 asteroids that have been given a name, and there are more than 100 small planets bearing names related to Slovakia.
Some are related to geographical locations such as Tatry, Modra and Kriváň. Others are named after well-known Slovaks, including writers Milan Rúfus, Martin Kukučín, and Ľudmila Podjavorinská.
