Asteroid named after Las Vegas

By MAREK BIERNACINSKI

Real estate in Las Vegas has become such a hot commodity that it's expanding beyond Nevada and out into space - somewhere between Mars and Jupiter.

As part of the year-long celebration of Las Vegas' 100th birthday, an asteroid has been named after the city by the International Astronomical Union. Orbiting the sun on an elliptical path between Mars and Jupiter, the asteroid "Las Vegas" was first discovered in June 2001 by the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

The name was recommended by the Las Vegas Centennial Office last May and was recently approved in January by the IAU. The name "Las Vegas" was first suggested by the City of Las Vegas when it wanted to add the naming to its long list of celebrations in honor of the city turning 100 years old in 2005.

With the name having been approved, the Centennial Celebration Committee announced the official celebration will be conducted during the Centennial board meeting today. The meeting will take place at the Cashman Center, 850 North Las Vegas Blvd., Room 203, at 2 p.m.

With the good news comes yet another reason for the self-proclaimed "happiest mayor on earth," Mayor Oscar Goodman, to celebrate Las Vegas.

"Las Vegas has acquired its first piece of interplanetary property," Goodman said, "though it may be a while before it's zoned for business."

For those who do not wish to wait long enough to see the space rock developed, they can see the asteroid with their telescopes on a clear night sky.

Using a CCD camera, commonly attached to most telescopes, one can see the asteroid within the constellation Sagittarius' 2005 apparition. It will be located in the southern sky at a low level, reaching an approximate intensity magnitude of 17.9.

CCD cameras, which stand for charged coupled device cameras, have a type of image-sensing technology that provides automatic focus, white balance and iris control, producing razor-sharp high quality images. They can be purchased at most stores that sell telescopes.

Along with the ceremony, an official citation had also been submitted to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the press release stated. The observatory catalogs asteroids and will add asteroid "Las Vegas" to a list of more than 12,000 other asteroids that have been named for people, places or things, including an asteroid called "Elvis Presley."

The citation reads: "Named as a celestial tribute to the community of Las Vegas, Nevada, which in 100 years evolved from a dusty train stop to a city that entertains more than 35 million visitors a year. Name suggested by the City of Las Vegas in honor of its centennial, 1905 to 2005."

The asteroid's orbital period is 4.10 years and is inclined toward the plane of the ecliptic at 22.0 degrees. Its closest approach to the sun is 2.45 astronomical units, one AU is the average distance between the Earth and the Sun. Its closest distance to Earth is 1.6 AU, or 149 million miles, too far for "Las Vegas" to ever cause the end of civilization with an inconvenient collision, though some would argue Las Vegas the city might not need any help, as its culture invades American pop culture.

For more information about the Centennial Celebration, visit www.lasvegas2005.org or call 702.229.2005.