Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan to have its own asteroid

28.06.2019

Astronomers of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań decided to put their Alma Mater in the centenary of the university in the stars. They contacted Czech colleagues who have discovered many asteroids and asked for giving the name of the university to one of them.

The asteroid 96765, which will receive the name chosen by the University community during the competition, is a rock object with a diameter of approx. 3 km, in the shape reminiscent of the classic Poznań potato “pyra”. A day on this planetoid lasts about 20 hours. It has no atmosphere, and the gravity is so small that the astronaut standing on its surface would have difficulty to walk, because each step would send him in a orbit.

There is already a “university” object rotating around the Sun – the International Astronomical Union has given the asteroid 82937 the name “Lesicki”, in honor of Prof. Andrzej Lesicki, rector of UAM. “Lesicki” has a diameter of about 7 km and a shape resembling a kiwi fruit.
Voting link: http://www.astro.amu.edu.pl/pl/linki/planetoida_dla_uam/


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