Asteroids named after two emeritus astronomer colleagues

The naming of asteroids is a centuries-old tradition, which is now overseen by the International Astronomical Union's Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature. This international committee approves the proposal of the asteroid's discoverer, which then officially becomes the name of the celestial body.

Our Piszkéstető Observatory has been running an intensive asteroid search program for nearly three decades, so we have hundreds of asteroids waiting to be named. At the end of last summer, we made up for our old debt when we proposed two retired but still active colleagues from our institute to the committee for naming. The accepted proposals were published in their circular letter on September 22, so since then, the asteroids (224858) Kunmária and (225096) Kovácsgéza have also been orbiting in the Solar System.

Mária Kun 's research focusses on young stars and star-forming regions in the Milky Way. For decades, she was one of the most active observers using the Schmidt telescope in Piszkéstető, which was used to discover the asteroid named after her. The discovery was made on December 28, 2006. In addition to her scientific work, she has written excellent articles for the Hungarian Astronomical Almanach, translated several popular science books into Hungarian, and edited their translations, actively participating in the public outreach of astronomy in Hungary. The celestial body, provisionally designated 2006 YO49 and numbered 224858, moves in the inner part of the main asteroid belt, orbiting the Sun in 3.45 years on an orbit tilted five degrees relative to the Earth's orbit. Its diameter is around 1 km, so even under favorable conditions, it does not become brighter than magnitude 18.5, and can therefore only be observed using large telescopes.

Géza Kovács is an internationally recognized expert in pulsating star research and has also participated in the discovery of exoplanets. One of his best-known achievements is the development of the box-fitting algorithm, which is still used today to search for transiting exoplanets in both ground-based and space telescope measurements. The publication, released in 2002, has received more than a thousand citations to date. The celestial body named after him, with a diameter of approximately 2 km, was discovered on February 24, 2008, in Piszkéstető. The minor planet, temporarily designated 2008 DU and numbered 225096, is located in the outer part of the main belt, has an orbital period of 4.61 years, and an orbital inclination of 9 degrees. Due to its great distance, it remains fainter than magnitude 19.