oh my!

Scientists have named an asteroid in honor of my friend and fellow Enterprise navigator dude, George Takei!

An asteroid between Mars and Jupiter has been renamed 7307 Takei in honor of the actor, best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu in the original "Star Trek" series and movies.

The celestial rock, discovered by two Japanese astronomers in 1994, was formerly known as 1994 GT9. It joins the 4659 Roddenberry (named for the show's creator, Gene Roddenberry) and the 68410 Nichols (for co-star Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura). Other main-belt asteroids have been named for science fiction luminaries Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov.

 

Just so nobody thinks this is one of those scams where you give some shady guy in an alley a double sawbuck and you get a sixth generation photocopy certificate in return:

The renaming of 7307 Takei was approved by the International Astronomical Union's Committee on Small Body Nomenclature. About 14,000 asteroid names have been approved by the panel, while about 165,000 asteroids have been identified and numbered, union spokesman Lars Lindberg Christensen said.

Unlike the myriad Web sites that offer to sell naming rights to stars, the IAU committee-approved names are actually used by astronomers, said Tom Burbine, the Mount Holyoke College astronomy professor who proposed the name swap.

"This is the name that will be used for all eternity," he said.

That's so totally awesome. If you've ever had the pleasure of meeting George, you know that he's one of the kindest and most joyful people in the universe, and I know this actually means something to him. I can just hear him saying, "Oh my!" When he got the news.

Comments

[Ed]

What a strange thing to name.

[kristinalead]

Wow. In light of this, can asteriod (or is that 'heavenly body'?!) "NNNN Wheaton" be far off?

I can just hear you saying, "Neato!"

;)

[meredith]

Wow. That seriously, uh ... rocks. :}

[Mystral721]

So glad for him! That's the kind of immortality geeks can appreciate. :D

[Ian Warrender]

Great news, I hope one day someone will name a piece of space dust after me.

[RockBear]

> "This is the name that will be used for all eternity," he said.

heh. Or at least until political correctness catches up and renames it , because a fictional officer in a fictional commie starfleet is an improper name for an asteroid.

Hopefully this will not happen for a long, long time.

[Joel]

That guy is so freekin funny. He's on the Howard Stern Show from time to time and while they are always messing with him he has nothing but great stories about Star Trek. What a great guy.

[cryssyer]

Seriously cool. Fictional or not, the character was pivotal on television (just like Uhura was) and George was always one of my favorites from TOS. Met him once at a convention and (just like you) he took extraordinary care to talk to me like I was a real person and not some Trekkie-stalker-freak dressed in a red shirt complete with communicator...I will never forget it.

[salty-horse]

There's a really fun interview with him at http://youtube.com/watch?v=lXwCG4hQcxo
(It's half a year old, but I only discovered it several days ago)

[beelkay]

He does have a very nice "Oh, my!" He makes everything sound good, though.

[sjistarr]

Here's the etrade commercial with the "oh my!": http://youtube.com/watch?v=td4VEGiIQmk

[Mrs. Freitas]

Rockbear - They named it after the actor not the character. =)

And hey Wil, last night while I was holed up in bed with a mild case of food poisoning I saw a show about Dragons on Animal Planet last night that your buddy Patrick Stewart narrated. It was pretty cool but I want to see you on tv instead. =(

[mhaithaca]

But I bet everyone's going to mispronounce the name of the poor asteroid, too!

[angie k]

Well, that's just neat! :) I always hear good things about him. He seems like a really great guy! :)

P.S. Just got the tracking number for my book. I must say, I did a happy dance. :)

[Sally J]

Until I saw the Shatner roast, I had no idea how outrageously funny Mr. Takai is. That man is a treasure.

P.S. Thanks for the interview link, salty-horse.

[Mike Cohen]

I thought they couldn't name them after living persons, which got me worried when I first read it.

[starshine_diva]

Oh my! LOL.
If only he'd say that on Heroes, it would make the whole show better. Too bad that will never happen.

[Molly]

That's awesome. I had the opportunity of meeting George last summer at SF Pride, and he was delightful. Charming, intelligent, and totally willing to geek out with the fans. He has a grace for honoring fans and letting them honor him that you don't always see in celebrities.

Incidentally, for me at least, the link you posted redirected to http://news.wired.com/specials/bluepage.html, so I wasn't able to see the article.

[Onaree]

That's great for him! I wish his character on Heroes hadn't taken a swan dive off the building.

But, I do have good news for you. MSN has named Wesley Crusher as one of TV's Greatest Geeks. How awesome is that!?! Plus, there's a really cute picture of you, too.

[John]

Another reason political correctness won't ever get ahold of it is that it is the "International Astronomical Union" not the "American Astronomical Union". There are already asteroids named after Russkies, Krauts, and Japs.

And there's even an asteroid called Rumpelstiltsken!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meanings_of_asteroid_names

[crucislancer]

That's awesome! A well deserved honor. I really enjoyed his tenure on Heroes, BTW.

[Sara Niggleron]

Not only was George in the news, Wesley was named as one of the 10 biggest geeks on TV: http://tv.msn.com/tv/galleryfeature/greatestgeeks?GT1=7703&photoidx=14

[StephenB]

They had named one 747 Shatner, but it just turned out to be a frozen pile of sh**.

[bookwormtash]

Congratulations all around then. Congrats to George for getting his own asteriod...still don't know how that's gonna fit on the mantel, but cool none the less. And congrats to everybody's favorite Geek in Space...Wesley Crusher. Also don't know how this honor is going to fit on the mantel...but mantel worthy it is.

[R]

that is so awesome. Takei is a class act...but I don't need to tell you that :)