18610 Arthurdent

18610 Arthurdent is a small main belt asteroid. It was discovered by Felix Hormuth on February 7, 1998. It is named after Arthur Dent, the bewildered hero of Douglas Adams's "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".

It has been claimed that there is a strange coincidence associated with this asteroid: its name was supposedly announced the day before Douglas Adams died (11 May, 2001). However, there is some dispute as to the exact date of the announcement. The [http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/NumberedMPs015001.html Discovery Circumstances: Numbered Minor Planets (15001)-(20000)] establishes that the name was published in the Minor Planet Circular (MPC) 42677. The Minor Planet Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory otherwise confirms only the date of discovery, 7 February 1998. Alan Boyle states (on August 26, 2003) that the MPC was published on May 8, 2001. Felix Hormuth, who discovered the asteroid, was told that the name had been approved (and would shortly be published) on May 9, 2001 [http://www.inertramblings.com/2003/08/28/douglas-adams-the-more-than-complete-hitchhikers-guide/] , which seems to rule out the earlier date. The Guardian reports that the name was published on 10 May [http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0%2C6109%2C491791%2C00.html] . Reiner M. Stoss, in the [http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/ccc/cc051401.html Cambridge Conference Correspondence] for May 14, 2001, states " [...] Douglas Adams died last Friday [2001 May 11] . By accident "on the same day" the naming of minor planet (18610) Arthurdent was announced by the Minor Planet Center." (emphasis added).

See also: asteroid 25924 Douglasadams

References

* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/may/16/books.spaceexploration Planetary tribute to Hitch Hiker author as Arthurdent named] (Tim Radford, "The Guardian", Wednesday May 16 2001)