30.06.2021

The "Kirsan" asteroid was named after the sixth FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov

June 30 is the International Asteroid Day. It was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly on December 6, 2016.

It was decided to celebrate the new space holiday annually on June 30. On this day in 1908, a large-scale asteroid catastrophe occurred - the Tunguska meteorite collided with the Earth.
The initiative to establish a new holiday belongs to the Association of Space Explorers and is supported by the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. The main ideologists of Asteroid Day are Queen guitarist, astrophysicist Brian May and director Grig Richters. Their collaboration began in February 2014, when Brian May wrote the music for Richters' film about a large asteroid hitting London. As a result, the idea of an Asteroid Day was born.

An asteroid is a celestial body in the solar system that orbits the sun and has no atmosphere. The exact definition of the term "asteroid" has not yet been established; until 2006, asteroids were called minor planets.
Interestingly, the "Kirsan" asteroid (Minor Planet 5570) was named in honour of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. The celestial body was discovered on April 4, 1976 by the Soviet astronomer Nikolai Chernykh, and in 1997 the asteroid was named after the sixth FIDE President.