Sean Connery has an asteroid named after him and NASA says it is 'as cool as its namesake'

Legendary James Bond actor Sean Connery, who passed away on October 31 at the age of 90, has an asteroid named after him. The United States space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) thinks its “as cool as its namesake”.

The late Scottish actor was honoured by naming the asteroid after him for his stellar performance as the Franciscan friar William of Baskerville in the movie titled ‘The Name of the Rose’.

Sean Connery had also acted in a 1979 sci-fi movie named ‘Meteor’, in which he had played the role of a NASA personnel trying to save the Earth from the impact of a giant asteroid.

Speaking about his iconic role, NASA tweeted on November 2: “Sir Sean Connery starred in the movie ‘Meteor’, where he led NASA’s efforts to defend the Earth against an asteroid impact threat... decades before NASA appointed its first Planetary Defense Officer!”
The space agency also shared a video where the asteroid named after Sean Connery -- Asteroid 13070 Seanconnery -- can be seen floating in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The asteroid is 1.764 km in diameter and was discovered on September 8, 1991.

Besides Sean Connery, other renowned personalities who have asteroids named after them are German holocaust victim and author Anne Frank and celebrated Hollywood actor Tom Hanks, who played the role of astronaut Jim Lovell in the movie ‘Apollo 13’.