Asteroid named after Nijmegen amateur astronomer

An asteroid orbiting between Mars and Jupiter has been named after Astrid Eeuwes, a 45-year-old amateur astronomer from Nijmegen who studies micrometeorites collected from roofs and streets.

The 1.5km rock, until now known as 2018 BS7, will officially be called (585349) Eeuwes, the International Astronomical Union confirmed on Monday.

Eeuwes has volunteered at the Bussloo observatory in Gelderland for the past 10 years, where she examines tiny grains of space dust, gives lectures and shares her findings on social media.

In 2023 she was awarded a prize by the Royal Dutch astronomy and meteorology association (KNVWS) for her outreach work.

The asteroid was discovered in October 2012 by Marco Langbroek, now at TU Delft, who put her name forward.

“A colleague sent me a WhatsApp this afternoon to congratulate me, but we tease each other a lot and I didn’t know anything yet, so at first I didn’t quite believe it,” Eeuwes told broadcaster NOS. “Then the email was forwarded to me. The reactions haven’t stopped since.”

She said the naming had been on her bucket list. “I always thought, ‘when I grow up, that would be nice’. But this is fantastic – it’s the crowning achievement of my work.”

Eeuwes plans to try to photograph the asteroid herself. It is faint but close enough to capture with very good equipment, she said.

She joins an eclectic list of Dutch namesakes in the asteroid belt that includes Anne Frank, Vincent van Gogh, Rembrandt, Johan Cruijff, and Queens Wilhelmina and Juliana.