Mr Lovejoy has an Asteroid!

[Outbackmanyep]

I dunno if there is already a thread on this
Terry Lovejoy has an Asteroid named after him now!

What a way to honour an Amateur Comet hunter!
Gordon Garradd discovered the Asteroid! Great stuff!


Well Done Terry!

From Comets-ml:

list members might be interested to know that
another member of this list has had an asteroid named after him.
Among the list of new names issued in the MPCs of september 26
was (61342) Lovejoy named for Terry Lovejoy.
This asteroid is one discovered by Gordon Garradd back in 2000
from his private observatory.

[h0ughy (David)]

top stuff - but how come Gordon cant keep the asteroid in his own name?

[Dennis]

Congratulations to Terry, that is terrific good news indeed. It is inspiring to see Forum members recognised in this way. Terry is a very dedicated amateur astronomer and his successes with Comets and now this naming of an asteroid are richly deserved rewards for his dedication and contributions in his chosen field.

Cheers

Dennis

[Lee]

Originally Posted by h0ughy

top stuff - but how come Gordon cant keep the asteroid in his own name?

I was thinking the same thing?

[Ric]

Maybe Gordon already has a few in his name.

Still a nice gesture though.

Cheers

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Congrats Terry, fantastic recognition for dedicated effort.

[GrahamL]

great stuff gordon...magnanimity really is the crowning virtue

[CometGuy]

Thanks everyone, it was a pleasant suprise! Well actually I knew it was it the pipeline as good friend David Seargent had put it forward and said it had been agreed to in principle. 3 named objects in a year is really cool!

BTW asteroids aren't named after discoverers, so asteroid 61342 had been unnamed but Gordon (loomberah) already has his own , i.e 5066 Garradd:

http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?ID=a0005066

Terry

[iceman (Mike)]

Congratulations, Terry! 2007 has been a big year for you!

I can't wait to see what you do in 2008!

Props also to Gordon (loomberah), a very nice gesture indeed!

[Outbackmanyep]

Originally Posted by iceman

Congratulations, Terry! 2007 has been a big year for you!

I can't wait to see what you do in 2008!

Props also to Gordon (loomberah), a very nice gesture indeed!

Hey Iceman! Gordons been going great guns this year too! I see he racked up comet #7 last month!!

[fringe_dweller]

Congrats Terry! is that in recognition of your almost matchless/peerless contribution/dedication to aussie and world amatuer astronomy over many, many years? or is it a mates thing? lol anyway, esteemed and rarified company indeed!!!! awesome!

[loomberah (Gordon)]

I was away in WA for a couple of weeks and missed this, but yes, some time ago Dave Seargent and I discussed naming an asteroid for Terry for his amazing contributions to comet observing over many years. David had ideas for the citation and I had a (rather small) handfull asteroids discovered from home that were numbered and ready to be named (compared with who knows how many from work!) and I thought that it would be a bit more personal to use one of my hard earned discoveries, rather than the much easier ones from work, for the purpose.

As has been mentioned, discoverers have the right to propose names for their asteoroids, but not for themselves!

Gordon

[fringe_dweller]

ahh, thought so,.. Gordon (and David), nice gesture! and well deserved, onya

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Well done Terry
It is a great thing to get such recognition from your peers