As a child growing up in Slovenia in 1999, Dr Rok Ne\u017ei\u010d couldn’t have known that an asteroid that was discovered in New Mexico that year would be named after him almost three decades later. <\/p>\n
The Orchard County may be best known for its apples, but for Ne\u017ei\u010d the real attraction was astronomy.<\/p>\n
He first arrived to Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (AOP) in 2015 to complete his doctorate in space and climate physics, and has remained there ever since.<\/p>\n
More than a decade on, he is one of two AOP employees to have recently been chosen to have a celestial body named after them.<\/p>\n
Ne\u017ei\u010d, who works at the planetarium as a tours and outreach officer, said he thought it was “so cool” when he learned that asteroids can be named after people.<\/p>\n
Speaking to BBC News NI, Ne\u017ei\u010d said he wished he “could get there some day” and, now that he has, he described it as “a dream come true”. <\/p>\n
“I’m not sure how to believe it myself,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n