George Takei Has Asteroid Named After Him

Star Trek and Heroes star George Takei has been immortalized by having his name permanently affixed to an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter, StarTrek.com reported. The Committee on Small Body Nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union approved the name "7307 Takei" for the asteroid previously labeled "1994 GT9," the site reported.

The Takei reference will be used in the scientific community to identify the minor body from now on. Only about 14,000 asteroids have been named after specific people, out of about 400,000 such bodies known to exist. "I am honored, indeed transported to the galaxies, to know that my name has been assigned to an astronomical object in our solar system," Takei told the site. "I am yet to come down to Earth."

Asteroid 7307 Takei is approximately 5 miles in diameter, located in an orbit ranging between 2.5 and 3.0 astronomical units from the sun in the mid-solar-system asteroid belt. It was discovered in 1994 by two Japanese astronomers. The name was suggested by Tom H. Burbine, a Massachusetts astronomer, who cited Takei's work with the Japanese American Citizens League and the Human Rights Campaign, as well as his celebrity.