Newly named asteroids honor Dutch astronomers and physicist Hendrik Casimir
A total of 17 rocks orbiting the sun have been named after Dutch individuals. They now bear the names of astronomers such as Ignas Snellen, Inga Kamp, Simon Portegies Zwart, and Nathalie Degenaar, as well as physicist Hendrik Casimir.
The asteroids were discovered more than half a century ago by the couple Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld and Cees van Houten, both astronomers based in Leiden. Together, they discovered thousands of space rocks. The 17 that have now been given names previously only had scientific codes consisting of a combination of letters and numbers.
According to the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA), there are more than 800,000 numbered asteroids, and around 25,000 of them have been given a name.
Other Dutch figures after whom such space rocks have been named include Harry Mulisch, Vondel, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Anne Frank, Queens Wilhelmina and Juliana, Christiaan Huygens, Erasmus, Wubbo Ockels, André Kuipers, Johan Cruijff, Amina Helmi, Frits Zernike, and Ben Feringa. In February 2017, an asteroid was named Tijn, after a terminally ill boy who launched a nail polish campaign during 3FM’s charity event Serious Request in late 2016. Tijn passed away in July 2017.
Mars has craters named Amsterdam, Urk, Edam, and Bunnik. Mercury features the Ruysch crater and the Duyfken cliff. A crater on the Moon is named after astronomer Uco van Wijk.
There are also objects beyond our solar system that bear Dutch names. For instance, there is the star Sterrennacht with its planet Nachtwacht. Two other exoplanets are named Janssen and Lippershey, after two men from Zeeland who independently invented the telescope in the early 17th century.
In the constellation Pisces, there is Van Maanen's Star. A nebula was previously named Hanny’s Voorwerp, also in other languages, after its discoverer, a schoolteacher from Heerlen.
