We have a winner!
The Name Our Asteroid competition is over, and we have a clear winner - Ubuntu!
In detail, the 388 people taking part in the online voting cast their votes as follows.
| Suggested name | Votes |
|---|---|
| Ubuntu | 207 |
| Jabulani | 18 |
| Mzanzi | 18 |
| ILITYE | 74 |
| isiqobo | 71 |
Congratulations to Nabeela Kajee for suggesting the winning name!
The organisers of the competition would like to thank all those that suggested names and/or took part in the public voting.
Give a name to an asteroid.
This has been a chance for young people in South Africa to name an asteroid! This asteroid was discovered 2005 March 11 by Dr. Amanda Gulbis as part of the Deep Ecliptic Survey, using the Mayall 4-m telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. An example discovery image is shown above: roll the mouse cursor over the image to see the asteroid move between two images that were taken two hours apart. The asteroid is circled in green.
This asteroid was numbered 202373, but has not yet been named. Although the discoverer of asteroids has the right to propose a name, she kindly offered South African young people an opportunity to name the asteroid.
A selection committee chose five names from the more than 100 suggestions. And the general public elected the winning name from these.
Who could vote for a name?
Everybody was welcome to take part in the online vote to choose the winning asteroid name.
Who could suggest a name?
Young people, 18 or under, living in South Africa were asked to suggest a name. Either groups (school, church, clubs, etc.) or individuals were welcome to submit entries. See the "how to apply" page for details. The winner will receive not only have the honor of naming the asteroid, but will also receive a PRIZE!
06 November 2009: announcement is released
11 December 2009: name submission deadline
12 Dec.–17 Jan. 2010: selection committee narrows the submissions to the top 5 entries
18–31 January 2010: public, online voting to select winner from the top 5 entries
01 February 2010: winner announced!
Voting for an asteroid name was possible between 18th and 31st January 2010.
What is an asteroid?
NASA's asteroids page
NASA's solar system page
Check out the Souh African Astronomical Observatory.
Did you know that 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy?
The above plot shows the orbit of asteroid 202373. This asteroid has a nearly circular orbit around the sun in between Mars and Jupiter, and it takes 1920 days (5 years and 3 months) to go all the way around. It is currently 3.7 AU (Astronomical Units) away from the Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 22.3,which means it is billion times fainter than brightest stars (such as alpha Centauri and Vega) -- that means it is far too faint to see with your eyes, binoculars, or even through most telescopes! No one knows its size or composition. If we assume that the asteroid is the most common type (C-type), we can expect that the asteroid diameter is roughly 1-5 km.
