Dr. Rok Nejić, who grew up in Slovenia, never imagined that an asteroid discovered in New Mexico in 1999 would one day be named after him. Nearly 30 years later, the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium employee is one of two AOP staff members chosen to have a celestial object named in their honour.
Although Orchard County may be best known for its apples, astronomy was the main attraction for Nejić. He first arrived at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (AOP) in 2015 to undertake a PhD in space and climate physics and has remained there ever since.
Nejić now works as a tour and outreach worker at the planetarium. He said he thought it was “pretty cool” when he first learned that asteroids could be named after people.
Speaking to BBC News NI, Nejić said he had hoped to “someday get there”, but now described the recognition as “a dream come true”.
“I don’t know what to believe myself,” he admitted.
Asteroid named (20560) Nejitchi
Nejić explained that asteroids are “little rocks in space”, unlike planets. The asteroid named after him is officially designated (20560) Nejitchi.
“Since that’s the official name, the number there basically indicates the order in which it was discovered,” he said.
The asteroid is “sitting safely outside the asteroid belt, just orbiting the sun like us”, Nejić explained.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
