We have yet another Polish asteroid in the sky. A planetoid provisionally designated 12999 was given the name "Torun", after the town where more than 450 years ago the most prominent Polish astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus, was born. The object was discovered with the same telescope by means of which Pluto had been discovered.
The news on the fact that the town would have its own planetoid was first disclosed in February by the Executive Board of the Polish Astronomical Society during a session marking the 85th anniversary of the organisation, which was actually founded in the town. In the following month the International Astronomical Union named the object - Torun.
The history of astronomy in Torun had already witnessed a similar event. A planetoid numbered 14382 had been named after Professor Andrzej Woszczyk, an astronomer from Torun and a long-standing President of the Polish Astronomical Society. At that time Woszczyk proposed to name the planetoid after the name of the town.
The 1981 QJ2 planetoid was discovered on 30th August 1981 by Professor Edward Bowell during his observations performed at Lowell Observatory. Bowell has discovered or co-discovered 572 planetoids and 2 comets. Archival data suggest that the planetoid in question had already been observed as long ago as in 1957. It's orbit is located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and it takes 3.5 years for the object to complete a full revolution around our parent star. The object has a diameter of around 5 to 10 kilometres. Unfortunately, it is not visible to the naked eye.
The official announcement of the IAU published in the Minor Planets Circular of 21st March 2008, contains a justification for the decision of naming planetoid 12999 Torun. Torun is, above all, a place where Nicolaus Copernicus was born, it's Old Town has been placed on the UNESCO World Heritage list, while Nicolaus Copernicus University is the biggest centre of astronomy in Poland.
It was Professor Tadeusz Michalowski who hinted the planetoid's discoverer at the possibility of naming it after Torun. To the question what prompted him to the move, Michalowski answers: "Several Polish towns already have their 'own' planetoids, Torun had not been among them. And this seems a curious situation. The achievements of Torun, both those historical (in the person of Nicolaus Copernicus) or current (Nicolaus Copernicus University) have been so significant that something just had to be done about it. I got in touch with the discoverer, Ted Bowell, who turned out to be very enthusiastic about the idea."
Naming the planetoid after Torun may be a unique asset of the town in its attempts to become the European Capital of Culture in 2016. Similar possibilities arise in connection with the International Year of Astronomy (2009), in the promotion of which Torun will to be greatly involved.
Current images of the planetoid have been snapped by a graduate of Nicolaus Copernicus University, now a doctoral student at Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Krzysztof Helminiak. HE took the images using the 1-metre Elizabeth telescope, located in the South African Astronomical Observatory in the Republic of South Africa.
More information about the planetoid (12999) Torun, along with its images are available at: www.pta.edu.pl/12999.
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