Elliott Smith has officially had an asteroid named after him, and fans have quickly noticed one particularly strange detail.
The International Astronomical Union has approved the naming of a minor planet in the main asteroid belt as (861969) Elliottsmith, honouring the late singer-songwriter more than two decades after his death.
The idea came from Edinburgh filmmaker Orlando Campopiano, who was listening to Smith’s music when he began looking into whether a celestial body could be named after the musician. After receiving support from both the Elliott Smith Estate and the PAN-STARRS astronomy team that originally discovered the asteroid, a formal proposal was submitted to the IAU.
The proposal was recently approved. The inspiration came from Smith’s song ‘Shooting Star’, which appears on his posthumous 2004 album From a Basement on the Hill.
Then there’s the coincidence. The asteroid’s catalogue number is 861969, which happens to match Smith’s birth date: August 6, 1969.
Campopiano told Stereogum he hopes the naming might introduce new listeners to Smith’s music.
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Smith joins a surprisingly long list of musicians with celestial namesakes, including David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Aretha Franklin and all four members of The Beatles.
If you’re curious, the asteroid’s orbit can be tracked through NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Small-Body Database.
