Science & Technology

AZ Observatory Wants to Name Asteroid After Trayvon Martin

Out in Flagstaff

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Albert Einstein. George Takei. Jerry Garcia.

All of those men and many others have had an asteroid named after them. And if William Lowell Putnam III, trustee of Lowell Observatory, has his way, another name will be added to that list: Trayvon Martin. 

The retired broadcast executive, alpinist, author and Flagstaff resident believes that Martin has not received justice.

It was an unusually warm night at Anderson Mesa south of Flagstaff on Oct. 2, 2000, when Lowell Observatory astronomers found the asteroid 2000 TM61. It was just one of hundreds that observatory's researchers discovered as part of their search for Near Earth Asteroids.

(Hat tip to Felix Finch)