Planet Anand
Published : May 02, 2015 00:00 IST
Most wives, at some point of time, would have wondered whether their husbands were from another planet. Aruna, wife of former World champion Viswanathan Anand, who also doubles up as his manager, is no exception. Her doubts, however, were not entirely unreasonable, it seems. A minor planet (4538) has recently been named Vishyanand.
The planet was discovered in 1988 by Japanese astronomer Kenzo Suzuki but had remained unnamed all these years until Michael Rudenko, a chess enthusiast and member of the Minor Planet Centre, decided to honour Anand in a unique manner.
“I thought it might be appropriate to name a minor planet in honour of a chess Grandmaster,” he said. “My thoughts at once turned to Viswanathan Anand, who, in addition to being the 15th world chess champion, is also an astronomy buff.”
Vishyanand belongs to the minor planet category of asteroid belt and its orbital period is 3.78 Julian years.
P. K. Ajith Kumar