Asteroid Named After MTU Professor

A Michigan Tech Professor has been immortalized in outer space.

An asteroid has been named after physicist Robert Nemiroff.

The International Astronomical Union functional working group Small Bodies Nomenclature announced the new name this week.

Formerly known as 2002 GB185, the asteroid is now also known as (270558) Nemiroff.

The minor planet orbits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and was discovered April 9, 2002.

The WGSBN bulletin entry noted that “Nemiroff’s main research interests are in gamma-ray bursts, gravitational lensing, and cosmology. As a co-creator of the Astronomy Picture of the Day, he has provided outstanding contributions to the public understanding of astronomy since 1995.”