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Las Vegas Welcomes Asteroid Named in its Honor
"Las Vegas has acquired its first piece of interplanetary property," Mayor Oscar B. Goodman announced recently, "though it may be a while before it's zoned for business." The announcement was made March 14 at the Centennial Committee's monthly meeting.
How did we get an asteroid named after Las Vegas? you might be asking.
An asteroid's discoverers have first priority in naming the asteroids they find. So the Centennial office made its request to an agency that is well known for discovering asteroids, namely Cal Tech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.
The scientists at JPL looked around and found a suitable unnamed asteroid for us. Then they shepherded our request through a lengthy asteroid-naming procedure. Their first step was to apply to the naming committee of the International Astronomical Union -- the group that has ultimate authority for names.
At this point the Centennial staff got into some trouble. All applications to the International Union must include a defense of the recommended name. Our defense worried the committee because it referred to Las Vegas as "a valley so bright with laser beams and neon tracery as to be visible from outer space."
The trouble is that one of the great campaigns in the scientific community is to greatly reduce light pollution. Now, we in Las Vegas are at odds with that goal -- bright light is our town's main attraction, our pride and joy.
On our next try, we dimmed way down from "laser beams and neon tracery" and described our town as "neon festooned." But that didn't help. One of the committee members, a scientist from Harvard, let JPL know that "almost all members were so incensed by the idea of light pollution they may not be too eager to reconsider it, even if the citation (defense) were changed."
But the Centennial staff persevered. And JPL persevered. And in January the International Union announced that Las Vegas -- along with 71 other names of scientists, artists, and great cities -- would be honored with an asteroid to "call" its own.
When an asteroid name is accepted, its "defense" becomes its "citation" and is then printed next to the asteroid's name in a catalog at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Our citation for the asteroid Las Vegas reads:
(82332) Las Vegas = 2001 LV6
Discovered 15 June 2001 by the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking program at Palomar Observatory.
Named as a celestial tribute to the community of Las Vegas, NV, 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, 1905-2005.
Dr. David Batchelor, astronomy professor at Community College of Southern Nevada, told the Centennial Committee that it was an honor to have an asteroid named after the city, and that hundreds of years from now, the celestial body will still be called Las Vegas.
