Renowned Indian astrophysicist Prof. Jayant Murthy honored by IAU with asteroid name (215884) Jayantmurthy for pioneering work in ultraviolet astronomy and space missions.
Asteroid previously known as "2005 EX296", now named after Prof. Murthy, orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter, completing one revolution every 3.3 years.
Recognition highlights Murthy's contributions to NASA's New Horizons mission, which studied Pluto in detail during its 2015 flyby and ventured into the Kuiper Belt.
Murthy's research focuses on measuring cosmic ultraviolet background radiation, best done from the outer Solar System to minimize interference from the Sun and interplanetary medium.
