{"id":507443,"date":"2026-06-19T06:03:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T06:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/507443\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T06:03:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T06:03:13","slug":"elliott-smith-now-has-an-asteroid-named-after-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/507443\/","title":{"rendered":"Elliott Smith now has an asteroid named after him"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elliott Smith<\/a> now has an asteroid named after him, over two decades since his death.<\/p>\n

The move has been approved by the International Astronomical Union\u2019s Working Group for Small Body Nomenclature (WGSBN), and will see a minor planet discovered in 2014 become officially named as \u201c(861969) Elliottsmith\u201d.<\/p>\n

It was Edinburgh-based independent filmmaker Orlando Campopiano who came up with the idea for the heartwarming tribute, as reported by Stereogum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to reports, Campopiano was looking into the night sky when listening to the late songwriter\u2019s song \u2018Shooting Star\u2019 \u2013 which was released as part of posthumous album, \u2018From a Basement on the Hill\u2019 \u2013 when the idea came to him. Fittingly, the final lyrics of that track see Smith repeat the line: \u201cYou\u2019ll love me sad, shooting star\u201d.<\/p>\n

The filmmaker then reached out to Smith\u2019s estate to make the idea into reality, and their proposal was later accepted by the International Astronomical Union.<\/p>\n

The \u2018861969\u2019 part of the name is the asteroid\u2019s numerical designation, and also comes as a nod to the late artist\u2019s birthday: August 6 1969.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope this introduces at least one new person to Elliott\u2019s brilliant discography, and I\u2019m happy to see a permanent legacy in the stars,\u201d Campopiano said in a new statement. \u201cTo have this tribute to him blessed by the estate and discoverers is also a great honour.\u201d<\/p>\n

An official citation was published in the IAU\u2019s bulletin<\/a>, and confirms that the asteroid has been named in honour of the \u201cAmerican musician and songwriter [who was] born Steven Paul Smith on August 6, 1969\u201d.<\/p>\n

The asteroid can be located using NASA\u2019s 3D Jet Propulsion Laboratory\u2019s interactive Small-Body Database.<\/a><\/p>\n

With the new cosmic tribute, Smith joins a number of musicians who have also had asteroids named after them, including David Bowie<\/a>, Stevie Wonder<\/a>, Freddie Mercury<\/a>, Brian Eno<\/a>, all four members of The Beatles<\/a>, Enya<\/a>, Madonna<\/a>, Aretha Franklin<\/a>, Bob Dylan<\/a>, and Frank Zappa<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Smith died in 2003 after suffering two stab wounds to the chest. He was aged 34.<\/p>\n

In 2023, six of his albums that he recorded in high school (between 1985 and 1989) surfaced online<\/a>, and his pre-solo band Heatmiser announced a rarities compilation.<\/a><\/p>\n

Before then, Bright Eyes covered his song \u2018St. Ides Heaven\u2019<\/a> in 2022 as part of a special reissue of their 1998 album \u2018Letting Off The Happiness\u2019, and Smith\u2019s self-titled second album was reissued to mark its 25th anniversary<\/a>. The latter came with a live album called \u2018Live At Umbra Penumbra\u2019, which was recorded at the titular Portland cafe in September 1994.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elliott Smith now has an asteroid named after him, over two decades since his death. The move has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":507444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278,640],"class_list":["post-507443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music","tag-rock"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/507444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}