She’s Officially Celestial: Malala Gets Astroid Named After Her

[Serendipity 7,821]

She fought for girls’ rights, survived an assassination attempt, and won the Nobel Peace Prize all by the time she was 17 years old. Now Malala Yousafzai has a celestial body named after her.

An astronomer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory discovered the asteroid back in 2010 and the International Astronomical Union Committee on Small Bodies Nomenclature announced last week it is now named after the Pakistani teenager who stood up to the Taliban.

Yousafzai became the youngest person to ever receive the Nobel Peace Prize last year for her activism in support of a girl’s right to attend school. In 2012, Taliban gunmen shot her, leaving her severely wounded in a failed assassination attempt. She’d drawn the Taliban’s ire after becoming an outspoken critic and symbol of resistance to Taliban efforts to quash education for girls in Pakistan.

“If anyone deserves to have an asteroid named after them, she does,” said Amy Mainzer, who discovered the asteroid. She wrote on the Malala Fund blog, “We desperately need the brainpower of all smart people to solve some of humanity’s most difficult problems, and we can’t afford to reject half the population’s.”

Asteroid 316201 Malala lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, in our solar system’s main asteroid belt. Four kilometers across and described as the color of “printer toner,” it takes five-and-a-half years to orbit the sun.

Mainzer said she decided to name her discovery after post doctoral student Carrie Nugent pointed out to her how few asteroids have been named “in honor of the contributions of women and particularly women of color.”

Photo Credit: NASA/JPL

 

The Greatest honor for such a great woman

 

Hats Off NASA :applause:

[Melech 9,900]

inb4 asteroid crashes on earth

[Cody Draco 2,531]

inb4 asteroid crashes on earth

​inb4 Muslims are blamed

[Serendipity 7,821]

inb4 asteroid crashes on earth

​not gonna happen

Malala gonna save Earth from the 2017 asteroid

[Morphine Prince 109,683]

​inb4 Muslims are blamed

inb4 people claim that is why women should not get an education. 

[Serendipity 7,821]

inb4 people claim that is why women should not get an education. 

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​inb4 Muslims are blamed

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inb4 asteroid crashes on earth

​guys, stop making this an inb4 thread

[Cody Draco 2,531]

inb4 people claim that is why women should not get an education. 

​inb4 they claim throwing acid is an eye for an eye to a meteor shower

[Morphine Prince 109,683]

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​guys, stop making this an inb4 thread

inb4 we all get WP. 

[Serendipity 7,821]

inb4 we all get WP. 

​inb4 it's me as a result of watching another inb4

​inb4 they claim throwing acid is an eye for an eye to a meteor shower

​guys, cut the joke

[Melech 9,900]

inb4 I get banned again 

[Serendipity 7,821]

inb4 I get banned again 

​oh god, i'm gonna have a meltdown

[Cody Draco 2,531]

​inb4 it's me as a result of watching another inb4

​guys, cut the joke

​inb4 I posted that before I saw you posted to stop.

[Melech 9,900]

​oh god, i'm gonna have a meltdown

​inb4 you destroy earth before malala does

[Guest]

This thread

And good for her, oh my, I feel proud of her, and I am grateful that NASA decided to honor her in such a way 

[Serendipity 7,821]

​inb4 you destroy earth before malala does

​this is not funny