Raju Sykam

Environmentalist Sainudeen Pattazhy, 46, who shot to fame early last month after an asteroid was named after him, is again in the limelight but for all the wrong reasons.

But, Bangalore-based astrophysicist DR R. Rajamohan, the discoveror of the asteroid 5178, revealed that he never proposed Sainudeen’s name to it. Everyone in the scientific community in India believed that Rajamohan was behind the naming as it is the privilege of the discoverer to name the minor planet.

Dr Rajamohan had discovered six asteroids nearly two decades ago through his optical telescope at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics’ Vainu Bappu Observatory in Kavalur, Tamil Nadu.

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NASA has announced it will name a minor planet after a zoology professor from Kerala.

For Sainudeen Pattazhy, it is recognition for some pioneering work he has done in the field of environmental research.

“I was so happy when NASA informed me on Wednesday evening that my name has been selected for naming a minor planet. It’s known as 5178 Pattazhy. Actually, Rajamohan had discovered it in 1989. He proposed my name and NASA accepted it,” Pattazhy said.

Pattazhy became popular for his study on the red rain phenomenon in Kerala in recent years.

He could hardly believe his ears when he was told that an asteroid located somewhere between Mars and Jupiter would bear his name – 5178 Pattazhy.

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