The asteroid, discovered seven years ago at the Baldone Astrophysical Observatory of the University of Latvia (LU), is named after Latvian film director and screenwriter Janis Streics, the university reported.
The celestial body was discovered on October 9, 2018, during observations by Ilgmars Eglitis, a leading researcher at the University of Latvia's Institute of Astronomy.
The naming of asteroids occurs in several stages. Initially, it was given the temporary designation "2018 RG17". After several years of observations and precise determination of its orbit, the object is assigned a permanent number, and only then can an official name be approved.
The asteroid is located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Its diameter is approximately one kilometer, and it completes one orbit around the Sun in 5.36 years. At the time of its discovery, this cosmic object was positioned at an altitude of 26 degrees in the sky in the constellation Aries.
It was previously reported that Streics passed away on March 5 at the age of 89. In early May, he was buried at the Petrovsky cemetery in the Reibin parish.
Streics was born on September 26, 1936, in "Anspoki" in the Preili parish and began his career in film and theater directing in 1964, becoming a legend of Latvian cinema.
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