Two minor planets orbiting the Sun were named after famous Slovak personalities after they were discovered in 2011 by Slovak amateur astronomer Štefan Kurti from Nové Zámky, the TASR newswire wrote on Thursday, February 9.
The first minor planet was named after Slovak football player Ján Popluhár, the latter after scientist Rudolf Hajossy. "Unlike professionals, I don't discover new objects with my own telescope, rather I look at archive shots from the Mt. Palomar observatory in California,"
Kurti described the process by which he found the minor planets. He said neither is visible to the naked eye. "You would need a telescope at least 50 cm in diameter to see them," he specified. Planet (247652) Hajossy is around 2,100 meters in diameter, while Planet (267585) Popluhár is less than half that size.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
