Planet named in honour of St. Petersburg's Tri-Centennial

Nobel prize-winning physicist Zhores Alferov presented St. Petersburg Governor Vladimir Yakovlev with a certificate verifying that the International Astronomical Union (IAU) named a small planet 'Peterburg 300' at a presentation in St. Petersburg on May 26.

The name 'Peterburg 300' was given to a small planet N1978 SX2. The decision was made by the IAU based on the proposition by the Russian Academy of Sciences. The small planet was discovered on September 26, 1978 by the Crimea Astrophysical Observatory. The Russian Academy of Sciences proposed the name in connection with the tri-centennial jubilee of the city on the Neva. The planet has a diameter of 18 kilometres, its orbit is located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The planet's average distance from the sun is 476 million kilometres. 'If somebody wants to go there, we will ask for support,' said Yakovlev.