A little birdie told me a few minutes ago that as of June 1st, TV host Jon Stewart has an asteroid named in his honor. Welcome to the club, Jon! Finally, I have something in common with him. Based on the objects' magnitudes, his is a little smaller than mine (ha!).

I presume he knows by now.

This gives me another excuse to note NASA's asteroid-information utility that the above links go to. The JPL Small-Body Database Browser is one of my favorite websites. The orbit-diagram page has been recently revamped and provides new information, including the citation that tells for whom (or what) the asteroid is named. At least for recent ones.... Earlier-named asteroids don't have a citation, yet. (Sorry Kelly and Dennis!).

(Stephen Colbert doesn't have a space rock named after him yet, I don't think. There is an asteroid Colbert, but it's named for a dinosaur researcher.)