In December 2003 we learned that asteroid 24728 has been named after Robin Scagell, proprietor of Galaxy Picture Library. Here is the citation published by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center:
(24728) Scagell = 1991 VO2 |
The asteroid, 5 km in diameter, orbits in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter some 350 million miles from the Sun. Neither the asteroid nor Robin Scagell poses any threat to civilisation as we know it. At its brightest the asteroid is about 17th magnitude – that is about 4,000 times fainter than can easily be seen using binoculars. In October 2017 Robin managed to get a photograph of it using his back-garden telescope. It shows up as just a faint streak as it moved during the 76-minute exposure. A number if distant galaxies are also visible in the photo.