Exclusive interview with Professor Jayanth Murthy

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has named an asteroid by the name of Prof. Jayant Murthy. The asteroid 2005 EX296 has now been designated as (215884) Jayantmurthy, as was announced on 18 March by the IAU through its Working Group on Small Bodies Nomenclature. This Working Group is the designated body to provide official names to all asteroids, comets and other small objects in the Solar System.

The asteroid (215884) Jayantmurthy was discovered by M.W. Buie at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona, USA in 2005, and has been named after Prof. Murthy in recognition of his work in the NASA New Horizons Science Team to observe the ultraviolet background radiation in the Universe. The asteroid goes around the Sun in an orbit that lies between that of Mars and Jupiter once every 3.3 years.

New Horizons was launched by NASA and flew past Pluto in 2015, studying it in unprecedented detail, and has since gone far beyond.