Two more Indians join Galaxy

Two asteroids have been named after two renowned astrophysicists, MGK Menon and JC Bhattacharya.

Six asteroids were discovered during the "Project Kalki" which was launched in 1987 when JC Bhattacharya was the Director of Indian Institute of Astrophysics and MGK Menon was the chairman of its governing council. The discoverer of the asteroids can suggest a name within the 10 years of discovery. Dr. Rajmohan, the scientist who discovered these asteroids has suggested the names of Dr. Menon and Dr. Bhattacharya.

The Committee for small body nomenclature (CSBN) of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has accepted the suggestions and named 2 of the siz asteroids as "Gokumenon" and "Bhattacharyya". The six asteroids asteroids were discovered in 1989 from the Vainu Bappu Observatory in Kavalur.