[meteorite-list] Asteroid Named for Nobel Prize Winner Joins Historic Lineup (316201 Malala)

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2015 15:00:54 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201504162200.t3GM0smk024053_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4554

Asteroid Named for Nobel Prize Winner Joins Historic Lineup
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
April 15, 2016

An asteroid discovered by NASA's NEOWISE spacecraft has been given the
formal designation 316201 Malala, in honor of Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan,
who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. The asteroid's previous appellation
was 2010 ML48.

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) renamed the asteroid as the
request of Amy Mainzer of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena,
California. Mainzer is the principal investigator of NASA's NEOWISE space
telescope. The IAU is the sole worldwide organization recognized by astronomers
everywhere to designate names for astronomical bodies. So far, Mainzer
and the NEOWISE team have focused on pioneers in civil rights, science
and the arts for the astronomical honor. Among the strong women of history
who have already had NEOWISE-discovered asteroids named for them are civil
rights activist Rosa Parks, conservationist Wangari Maathai, abolitionists
Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman, and singer Aretha Franklin.

Asteroid Malala is in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter and orbits
the sun every five-and-a-half years. It is about two-and-a-half miles
(four kilometers) in diameter, and its surface is very dark, the color
of printer toner.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the NEOWISE mission for NASA's
Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Space Dynamics Laboratory
in Logan, Utah, built the science instrument. Ball Aerospace & Technologies
Corp. of Boulder, Colorado, built the spacecraft. Science operations and
data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center
at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages
JPL for NASA.

For more information about NEOWISE, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/neowise

Media Contact

DC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle at jpl.nasa.gov

2015-132
Received on Thu 16 Apr 2015 06:00:54 PM PDT