Overview
- The IAU’s Working Group for Small Body Nomenclature published an official citation declaring that asteroid 2014 OS439 now bears the name (861969) Elliottsmith.
- Edinburgh filmmaker Orlando Campopiano led the formal nomination and said he worked closely with the Elliott Smith Estate and the PAN‑STARRS discoverers to secure approval.
- The object was discovered in 2014 by PAN‑STARRS and its numerical catalogue, 861969, is noted by the proposer as mirroring Smith’s birth date of August 6, 1969, a detail reported but not framed as an IAU intention.
- The designation and citation are recorded in the IAU bulletin and the object is viewable in NASA/JPL’s Small‑Body Database, which includes an interactive 3D viewer for public access.
- The naming formally links Smith’s cultural legacy to astronomical records and could introduce new listeners to his work, while joining other musicians who have had minor planets named for them.