Two Kolkata students have planets named after them

For Mukherjee,who is pursuing engineering at Jadavpur University,and Sarkar,who has joined Indian Institute of Science Education and Research — both alumni of South Point High School — the news came as a welcome surprise. “When we started working for this technology in 2008,we never imagined that planets would be named after us,” said Sarkar. The planets were discovered on January 4,2000 by Lincoln Laboratory Near-Earth Asteroid Research Team at Socorro under its linear programme.

Two other students from the country have received the honours. Hetal Vaishnav,a Class XII student of Late Shree S G Dholakiya Memorial High School in Rajkot will have minor planet 25636 named after her,while Vishnu Jayaprakash,a Class XII student of Chettinad Vidyashram,Chennai,will have planet 25620 named after him.