Editorial: Real space cowboys

Monday, Oct. 16, 2006 | 7:28 a.m.

Area 51's mythic connection to outer space has to share the celestial limelight with a real-live astral newcomer - an asteroid named for Elko.

Patrick Wiggins and Holly Phaneuf, the Utah pair credited with spotting the asteroid just outside Mars' orbit in 1999, named the celestial body after the northeastern Nevada town because it is where Wiggins was born, according to a recent story by the Deseret Morning News.

The pair first saw Elko (the asteroid) while using a telescope to track a known asteroid. As they refined their search, the new asteroid came into view. After studying a few photos they had taken, the two star buffs realized there were no asteroids recorded in that spot, the Deseret Morning News says. They reported their find to the Paris-based International Astronomical Union - the same organization that recently demoted Pluto to a "dwarf planet."

But it takes more than some photos to convince scientists that a new asteroid has been discovered. The new object must go around the sun twice to establish its orbit so that it can be checked against a known object. Elko's orbit is so large that it took nearly seven years to complete two trips around the sun.

In his application to the astronomical union, Wiggins said the asteroid should be named for Elko because it is a 19th-century Wild West town that is home to the National Cowboy Poetry Festival and the National Basque Festival. It is unclear how those characteristics link Elko the town with Elko the asteroid. But one thing is certain - the town is a whole lot easier to spot without a telescope.