Chancellor Sean O’Keefe’s name is now among the stars, both Hollywood and astronomical.
Charles Elachi, director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, recently informed O’Keefe that the International Astronomical Union was naming an asteroid after him, and O’Keefe was added to a list of asteroids also named after stars including Sean Connery, Beethoven, the Beatles and Monty Python.
Before coming to LSU, O’Keefe was NASA’s chief for three years.
Elachi surprised the Chancellor with a plaque about the asteroid when Elachi came to the University about a week ago to participate in a lecture series, O’Keefe said.
“It was a pleasant surprise, and I was very flattered,” O’Keefe said.
The asteroid, which was previously numbered Asteroid 78,905, is now known as “Asteroid Seanokeefe,” said Ray Bambery, head of the team that discovered O’Keefe’s asteroid and principle investigator of Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking Project.
An asteroid, which is a group of thousands of small rocky objects that orbit around the sun, is usually in orbit between Mars and Jupiter, also where “Asteroid Seanokeefe” is also orbiting.
Bambery said the plaque O’Keefe received has a photograph of space that shows the asteroid’s location and an inscription that reads: “Named in honor of Sean O’Keefe, born in 1956, for his vision and leadership in advancing the spirit of exploration during his tenure as the 10th NASA Administrator, 2001-2004.”
The Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking Project team discovered “Asteroid Seanokeefe” on Sept. 16, 2003. The team used a telescope at Palomar Observatory near San Diego, Bambery said.
“It is very humbling,” O’Keefe said about having the asteroid named after him. “And it is a great testimonial from some wonderful colleagues.”