MANILA — A Paris-based astronomy nongovernmental organization has named an asteroid after a 60-year-old Filipino medical doctor and amateur astronomer, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said Friday.

According to the DOST, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially named the 8-kilometer-wide asteroid, which is also considered a minor planet, “7431 Jettaguilar” in honor of Dr. Jose Francisco “Jett” Aguilar, a neurosurgeon at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center, Philippine General Hospital, and Cardinal Santos Medical Center.

Aguilar has been providing neurosurgical services to Filipino children for more than 20 years and is known in the medical field for successfully removing a parasitic twin from a three-week-old infant in 2019, the department said.

"He is also the clinical director of the Philippine Movement Disorder Surgery Center, which pioneered 'Deep Brain Stimulation' surgery for Filipino patients afflicted with a rare genetic movement disorder called 'X-Linked Dystonia Parkinsonism,'" the DOST said in a statement.

According to the agency, Aguilar has been an ardent astrophotographer for more than 15 years, and his photos of the Sun, the transit of Venus, lunar eclipses and other celestial events have been published in Spaceweather.com and Skyandtelescope.org.

"He is also an avid eclipse chaser, and he has traveled overseas with members of the ALP to observe and photograph total and annular solar eclipses in China, Indonesia, the U.S., and Singapore," the DOST said.

The naming of the asteroid was proposed to the IAU to recognize Aguilar’s contributions to the medical field and Philippine astronomy, the agency disclosed.

"The IAU’s 15-member Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN) is the sole scientific organization with the authority and responsibility of assigning names to small solar system bodies such as asteroids, comets and the satellites of minor planets," the DOST explained.

Meanwhile, the department said that the asteroid named after the doctor circles the Sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

"The 7431 Jettaguilar revolves around the Sun at an average distance of about 463 million kilometers and takes it about 5.4 years to complete one orbit. It is currently about 643 million kilometers from Earth, shining very dimly at magnitude 19.5 in the constellation Sagittarius. One would need a fairly large telescope and sensitive CCD camera to record its faint, star-like image," the DOST explained.

The 7431 Jettaguilar was reportedly discovered on March 19, 1993 by the European Southern Observatory in Chile. It was given the preliminary designation 1993 FN41.

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OTHER ASTEROIDS NAMED AFTER PINOYS

According to DOST, Aguilar joined five other Filipinos who have asteroids named in their honor:

6282 Edwelda (1995) - Imelda Joson and husband Edwin Aguirre

4866 Badillo (2005) - Fr. Victor Badillo

6636 Kintanar (2007) - Roman Kintanar

30100 Christophergo (2015) - Christopher Go

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