June 9, 2015

Leonard Nimoy idolized with his own asteroid 4864 Nimoy

by Shayne Rana

Let’s be honest here, when playing Star Trek, how often did you want to be Kirk as compared to being Spock? I know I preferred playing the demure and cool headed second in command even though I probably identified mostly with the more shoot-and-ask-questions-later Captain of the Starship Enterprise. Spock definitely had quite a fan following amongst the Trekkies and to honor the great Leonard Nimoy, who plays the beloved character, an Asteroid has been named after him.


Asteroid 4864 which resides in the belt between Mars and Jupiter, is now officially called 4864 Nimoy. A Jet Propulsion Lab employee, one Ron Baalke posted it on twitter and announced to Trekkies from all over the globe that one of TV’s most celebrated legends now has a space rock named after him.

It somehow seems fitting that an Asteroid would be named after the actor who only recently passed away (on February 27). In 1998 Nimoy directed a film called The Good Mother and this was also the same year that this particular Asteroid, i.e. 4864, was discovered and labeled. Measuring a bit over 6 miles across and possibly containing some ice, 4864 Nimoy is on its 3.9 year orbit around our biggest and brightest star, the sun.

A geek icon like Nimoy will most fondly be remembered for his role as Mr. Spock on Star Trek but there’s been more to him than just that; from TV to the big screen and pretty much everything in between including books and music, Nimoy has been part of popular media culture for decades and will continue to be so for a long time to come, especially since he’s probably watching over us from his new space-rock home.

[Via – Geek]