Pope Gregory XIII, the 16th-century pontiff responsible for what is today known as the Gregorian calendar, now has another celestial claim to fame.
A working group of the International Astronomical Union has named an asteroid after him, the Vatican Observatory said Tuesday.
The “560974 Ugoboncompagni” — Gregory’s birth name was Ugo Boncompagni — was announced along with 72 other named asteroids in the Feb 27 update of the union’s Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature.
Also included in the new group are three Jesuits affiliated with the Vatican Observatory, bringing to more than 30 the number of Jesuit-named asteroids, the Observatory said in a statement.
Gregory, who lived from 1502-1585, along with an Italian astronomer and a Jesuit mathematician, corrected the Julian calendar and introduced a new method of calculating leap years that resulted in what is now known as the Gregorian calendar.