WALTER CRONKITE CAN STILL SEE HIS NAME IN LIGHTS

Tue, 19 Nov 1996 01:21:17 -0500
Source: Reuters

LOS ANGELES - Retired news anchorman Walter Cronkite can still see his name in lights -- heavenly ones.

An asteroid that had been known since its discovery six years ago only as ``1990 WA'', was renamed ``6318 Cronkite'' Monday.

The asteroid, some 30 million miles from Earth, was discovered six years ago by Caltech astronomer Eleanor Helin, who, as its discoverer, has the right to name it.

``This is a member of a class of asteroids that are normally named, by tradition, for gods and godesses,'' Helin said.

But breaking with tradition, she decided to name it for a man considered by many to be a god among TV journalists.

``It is extremely rare that a near-Earth asteroid be named for a living person,'' she said.

The re-naming was announced by the California Institute of Technology, where Cronkite was speaking Monday night. The newsman, once known as ``the most trusted man in America,'' did not know of the honor before arriving to give a lecture.

Cronkite, who started his career as a correspondent with then United Press during the Second World War, went on to become a CBS correspondent and later the network's nightly news anchor.

During his heyday, reporting on the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War and Watergate, Cronkite's kindly uncle image got him dubbed the most trusted man in America.

Although it is not known what the asteroid is made of, its orbit suggests it could be a de-gassed comet, said Helin, who discovered it with an 18-inch telescope at Caltech's Palomar observatory.

It is one to two miles in diameter and circles the sun every four years in a highly elliptical orbit that crosses Mars and approaches Earth's orbit.

One day, Helin said, Cronkite's planetary namesake could collide with Earth.

``The possibility is, it may make a big impact in the far distant future,'' she said. ``It does have that potential.''


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