'It is wild!' Asteroid named for University of Texas professor
Maruthi Akella, a professor at the University of Texas, has been honored with the naming of an asteroid located more than a hundred thousand miles from Earth. The asteroid, named Maruthiakella, was discovered in 1990 and was named after Akella by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory senior scientist Ryan Park. Akella has worked in the space industry for decades and has contributed to man's return to the moon. The asteroid is located in the solar system's asteroid belt and is 5.5 miles wide and takes three years to orbit the sun.