This fiery swath was actually only a belt of minor planets, almost like the asteroid belt in the original Solar System.

* In 1979, an asteroid — 1979 Sakharov — was named after him.

For example, the asteroid 4 Vesta was discovered in this constellation in 1807.

This ruled out classification as an asteroid, and they decided this was the ninth planet that Lowell had predicted.

Before the comet was captured by Jupiter, it was probably a short-period comet with an aphelion just inside Jupiter's orbit, and a perihelion interior to the asteroid belt.

Launched on 24 October 1998, the Deep Space mission carried out a flyby of asteroid 9969 Braille, which was selected as the mission's science target.

While the flyby of the asteroid was a partial success, the encounter with the comet retrieved valuable information.

The flyby of the asteroid 9969 Braille was only a partial success.

Deep Space 1 was intended to perform the flyby at at only from the asteroid.

This, plus Braille's lower albedo, meant that the asteroid was not bright enough for the autonav to focus the camera in the right direction, and the picture shoot was delayed by almost an hour.

Eventually the term " Finagle's law " was popularized by science fiction author Larry Niven in several stories depicting a frontier culture of asteroid miners ; this " Belter " culture professed a religion and / or running joke involving the worship of the dread god Finagle and his mad prophet Murphy.

The asteroid 1552 Bessel was named in his honour.

The NEAR Shoemaker mission in 2000 orbited the large near-Earth asteroid 433 Eros, and was even successfully landed there, though it had not been designed with this maneuver in mind.

In 1996, an asteroid ( 9793 Torvalds ) was named after him.

This was predicated by an attempt on Luthor's part to link Superman to a kryptonite asteroid that is hurtling toward Earth, claiming that he had ' evidence '- which he declined to share while claiming that it would make the public laud his actions if they knew it-that the asteroid was being drawn to Earth by Superman, offering a billion dollar reward for Superman's capture that pitted Superman and Batman against an army of villains, all of whom they defeated.

He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself named after the epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, acquired by her when she slew Pallas.

Originally intended to be an outer-space variation on Lord of the Flies, the project at first was titled " Asteroid Ship Icarus " and had a multinational teenage crew journeying through space in a hollowed-out asteroid in search of the planet Iscandar.

, the largest object in the asteroid belt, was found at Bode's predicted position in 1801.

Hektor, like Achilles, belonged to the swarm (" ahead " of the planet in its orbit ), while Patroclus was the first asteroid known to reside at the Lagrangian point (" behind " the planet ).

Due to his contributions to natural philosophy, the plant species Alberta magna and the asteroid 20006 Albertus Magnus were named after him.

* 91006 Fleming, an asteroid in the Asteroid Belt, is named for Fleming.

* 5020 Asimov, an asteroid discovered in 1981, named after Isaac Asimov

The asteroid 1604 Tombaugh, discovered in 1931, is named after him.

The asteroid 2275 Cuitláhuac is also named after this ruler.

The asteroid 30935 Davasobel is named after her.

The asteroid 6433 Enya, discovered on 18 November 1978 by A. Mrkos at Klet, is named after her.

Robinson also has an asteroid named after him, 4319 Jackierobinson.

* 2233 Kuznetsov, an asteroid named for Nikolai Ivanovich Kuznetsov ( 1911 – 1944 ), a Russian partisan fighter of World War II, and a Hero of the Soviet Union.

A main-belt asteroid named 2267 Agassiz is also named in association with Louis Agassiz.

* 2046 Leningrad, an asteroid named for Leningrad

* 3240 Laocoon, an asteroid named after Laocoön

Each member of Monty Python has an asteroid named after him.

A main belt asteroid is named Merlin in honour of the legendary wizard.

* The cloned horse Prometea, and Prometheus, a moon of Saturn, are named after this Titan, as is the asteroid 1809 Prometheus.

* 2045 Peking, an asteroid named after Beijing

Finnish astronomer Yrjö Väisälä named the main belt asteroid 1740 Paavo Nurmi after Nurmi in 1939, while Finnair named its first DC-8 Paavo Nurmi in 1969.

The asteroid 150145 Uvic was named in the university's honour on 1 June 2007.

* The asteroid ( 4987 ) Flamsteed is named in his honour.

* An asteroid, 9620 Ericidle, is named in his honour.

The asteroid 4206 Verulamium was named in honour of the ancient city.

The asteroid 5632 was named Ingelehmann in her honour.

The lunar crater Chebyshev and the asteroid 2010 Chebyshev were named in his honour.

The asteroid 117329 Spencer is named in his honour.

The asteroid 1199 Geldonia was named in its honour ( from the Latin form of the name ) by Eugène Delporte, who was born here.

The asteroid 117435 Severochoa is also named in his honour.

He compiled the Caldwell catalogue of astronomical objects and in 1982, asteroid 2602 Moore was named in his honour.

The crater Rydberg on the Moon and asteroid 10506 Rydberg are named in his honour.

The asteroid 768 Struveana was named jointly in his honour and that of Otto Wilhelm and Karl Hermann Struve and a lunar crater was named for another 3 astronomers of the Struve family: Friedrich Georg Wilhelm, Otto Wilhelm and Otto.

* The asteroid 9134 Encke is named in his honour.

The asteroid 37699 Santini-Aichl is named in his honour.

The asteroid 7313 Pisano was named to honour Nicola and Giovanni Pisano.

The asteroid 61208 Stonarov was named in its honour on 1 June 2007.

* 2578 Saint-Exupéry, asteroid named in honour of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

In honour of the nuptials, which were celebrated lavishly throughout Austria, the Austrian astronomer Johann Palisa named asteroid 220 Stephania in her honour in 1881, commemorating the union.

The asteroid 2099 Öpik is named in his honour.

** 43844 Rowling, an asteroid named in her honour

The asteroid 25593 Camillejordan and Institute of Camille Jordan are named in his honour.