TAS bestows Thai name on minor planet

>> A new minor planet will be named after astronomer Singto Pukahuta, former president of the Thai Astronomical Society (TAS), who passed away in 2007 at the age of 92.

Wimut Wasalai, a committee member of the TAS, said the International Astronomical Union (IAU) on Feb 12 officially bestowed the name of Singto on minor planet 1989 CN (6125) following the society’s request.

Mr Wimut said the IAU gave the TAS the opportunity to name this new minor planet due to it winning the majority of votes for a newly discovered star in late 2015 with the name 47 Ursae Majoris.

“It’s the first time the society has had the honour of naming a minor planet and the name of Singto came up as he greatly contributed to Thai astronomy,” he said.

Singto, who was born in 1915, was a prominent astronomer, educator and author as well as a founder and director of the Bangkok Planetarium and president of the TAS. He wrote Star Tales, which is regarded as one of 100 good books that Thai children should read, Mr Wimut said.

“Our society is very proud to have his name on the minor planet. It will be an inspiration for young Thais to study space and science so that one day new planets may be named after them,” he said, adding that there are about 100,000 minor planets waiting for new names.

Mr Wimut said there were more than 10 minor planets named after Thai people. Most of the names are those of ex-students who won science and technology projects.

He said there was a planet named Mongkut in honour of King Rama IV, also known as King Mongkut, who was the father of science.

1989 CN was discovered on Feb 4, 1989, by two Japanese astronomers. Measuring 3.96 kilometres in diameter, it orbits between Mars and Jupiter