Professor Carolina Ödman-Govender blazed a trail in the field of science communications and astronomy development. Now an asteroid has been named in her honour.
 

Ödman-Govender passed away in November last year, and as part of a tribute to her, friends and colleagues took the decision to recommend an asteroid be named after her.

Professor Katrien Kolenberg, similar to Ödman-Govender, works in the field of Astronomy for Development. Kolenberg is a professor of Astrophysics and Science Communication at the universities KU Leuven, University of Antwerp and Free University of Brussels in Belgium.

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She said: “There are millions of asteroids in our solar system and of course we don’t know all of them yet, which is why the International Astronomical Union assigns names for these objects as they are discovered.

“The idea was discussed amongst her friends after Carolina passed away and the suggestion was made that it would really be nice to have an asteroid named after her.

I remembered that I have a good friend who actually finds asteroids, and I asked him if there were asteroids that we could name, and he sent a list of potential asteroids.”

The asteroid chosen by Ödman-Govender’s husband, Kevin, has a very special significance. Kolenberg explained : “From the list, Kevin chose an asteroid that was discovered in the month that he and Carolina met.”

Kevin said: “Our love story began in October 2006 when our work in astronomy brought us together. A story that gave rise to two amazing humans - our kids - in whom Carolina lives on. It was appropriate that this asteroid, discovered in that same month, now bears her name, celebrating forever her legacy among the stars”.
 

[WATCH] In Loving Memory of Carolina Ödman