The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has named minor planets after four Indians, among whom is a 38-year-old Malayali man. As per the latest bulletin of the Working Group Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN), which is the working group of the IAU, the four newly named planets are Ashokverma, Kumar, Rutuparekh, and Aswinsekhar. The Malayali in the group is Aswin Sekhar, a 38-year-old Palakkad native. He is an astronomer who is affiliated with the Paris Observatory, which comes under the government of France, and has been credited for the discovery of asteroid 2000LJ27.
According to the WGSBN bulletin, Aswin is the first professional meteor astronomer from India in modern times. “He has made important contributions to the field of meteors in meteoroid stream dynamics, particularly in the effects of relativity and resonances in meteoroid streams,” it says.
Ashok Kumar Verma, who is also honored by the IAU, is an Indian astrophysicist. Kumar Venkataramani is an Indian astronomer at CalTech, specialising in spectroscopic observations of comets and asteroids. Rutu Parekh, an Indian planetary scientist, specialises in understanding the surface evolution of icy satellites and asteroids.
According to a report, five planetary bodies have been named after Indians before this — nobel laureates Subramanya Chandrasekhar and CV Raman, mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan, space scientist Vikram Sarabhai, and astronomer Manali Kallat Vainu Bappu.
The IAU is an international association of astronomers with a mission to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects, including research, communication, education, and development. It also designates names to celestial bodies.