Asteroid Naming Story

An amateur astronomer has asked the International Astronomical Union (IAU) for proof of purchase and ownership of all the asteroids.

"A receipt will do," said Geoff Thompson

Geoff Thompson has been a keen amateur astronomer for 30 years and he regularly collects data which he sends to Harvard's Smithsonian Institute. He was delighted to have spotted an unknown asteroid, which he decided to call - Roy.

"It was probably the best day of my life when I found Roy. It's something you dream about as a boy," said the star-struck astronomer.

"I was gazing at the asteroid belt, which I've done every night for the last 25 years. All of sudden, I spotted a c-type asteroid and instantly knew it was one that's not been seen before. It's fascinating to think 'Roy' is a remnant of the protoplanetary disk. He would have a been a planet, but for large gravitational perturbations by Jupiter," said Geoff, interestingly.

He posted his find on the well known astronomy website - cosmicconundrums.com and immediately phoned Sir Patrick Moore and Brian May. As Sir Patrick said: "It's 4.30am. Go to bed."

"I didn't think any more about it and just carried on measuring the positions and brightness of near-Earth and potentially hazardous asteroids and trying to spot the Plough and the Big Bear. Out of the blue, I was contacted by the IAU, who said that the asteroid was indeed a previously unknown one, but it would be called 'asteroid 6137' and not 'Roy' until they granted a name for it. I questioned their authority about naming a floating rock in space. They said that too many people were naming things after confectionary and they wanted to avoid a planet being called - Turkish Delight or a constellation being named -The Walnut Whip. Even so, they don't really have the paperwork to support the argument that only they can name things 4 billion light-years way," said Geoff.

"I can't see 6137 at the moment as he's in the Southern Hemisphere, but I've asked a fellow astronomer to keep an eye on him," added Geoff

Geoff went on to admit that he had purchased an acre of landscape on the moon. "That was different though. They showed me the Lunar Constitution and Bill of Rights and I've got the deeds, a declaration of ownership and a map where it is. I'm not a mug you know!" said Geoff.

Update - IAU have decided not to name it as only 8 people in the world, outside of the main observatories, have the equipment to see it and it's just a big rock and there are 750,000 of them in the asteroid belt alone. As they pointed out - no one gives a toss - unless it's hurtling towards earth and then people suddenly become very interested.