2309 Mr. Spock (provisional designation: 1971 QX1) is a main belt asteroid discovered on August 16, 1971 by James B. Gibson, an astronomer specializing in comets, asteroids and the Milky Way, at the Yale-Columbia Station at El Leoncito, Argentina. The asteroid is about 21 km in diameter.
The asteroid's name does not come directly from the character of Mr. Spock in Star Trek, but rather indirectly from the discoverer's male cat who was named after the science fiction character. Like his namesake, the feline Mr. Spock was, according to Gibson, "imperturbable, logical, intelligent, and had pointed ears". The cat had accompanied Gibson on astronomical observations carried out in the United States, Africa, and South America. The naming created an uproar, and the International Astronomical Union subsequently decided that pet animal names were to be discouraged.[1] A number of other asteroids have since been named after Star Trek characters, as well as after musicians and other figures in pop culture.
References
- MPC 10042, Minor Planet Circulars, 1985 September 29.
- Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, 5th Edition, Lutz D. Schmadel, Springer, 2003, ISBN 3-540-00238-3.
- Observing Comets, Asteroids, Meteors, and the Zodiacal Light, Stephen J. Edberg and David H. Levy, cloth, Cambridge University Press, 1994, ISBN 0-521-42003-2 [ISBN 978-0-521-42003-7].
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