Lowell Observatory honored me with an asteroid: 29722 Chrisgraham (1999 AQ23) after the I ❤ Pluto Festival

My friend, Kevin Schindler, presenting me with the map of the orbit of asteroid 29722 Chrisgraham (1999 AQ23) on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. Kevin first invited me to perform at I ❤ Pluto Festival in 2023, then again in 2024. This year, he told me Alan Stern, Ph.D. from the New Horizons mission to Pluto, and Adam Nimoy were going to be the guests and asked if I wanted to write two poems, so I wrote two new pieces "The New Horizon" and "The Most Human," which I debuted at the festival. (Note Kevin's custom Pluto tie).

Arizona State Rep. Justin Wilmeth [District 2], Astronomy magazine editor-in-chief David Eicher, comet hunter David Levy and Christopher Fox Graham at Lowell Observatory with the map of the orbit of asteroid 29722 Chrisgraham (1999 AQ23) on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025.

I performed two poems at Lowell Observatory's annual I ❤ Pluto Festival last night at the Orpheum Theatre.  I wrote two new pieces "The New Horizon," about Leonard Nimoy and his role as Spock, and "The Most Human,"  about the New Horizon mission to Pluto.

The featured guests were Adam Nimoy, a television director and son of the late actor Leonard Nimoy; Alan Stern, Ph.D., Principal Investigator of the New Horizons Mission to Pluto; comet-hunter David Levy, who co-discovered Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (D/1993 F2) with Flagstaff scientists Gene and Carolyn Shoemaker. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 famously broke apart in July 1992 and its pieces slammed into Jupiter in July 1994, the first collision of two of extraterrestrial Solar System objects that was direct observable.

Adam Nimoy speaking about his father, Leonard Nimoy and his new book, "The Most Human: Reconciling with My Father, Leonard Nimoy."

Adam Nimoy, David Levy, Alan Stern, Ph.D., and David Eicher, from left, on stage at the Orpheum Theater in Flagstaff.

Alan Stern, Ph.D., answering an audience question about the New Horizons mission to Pluto.

Nimoy, Stern and Levy participated in a discussion on how scientific exploration inspires humanity moderated by David Eicher, editor-in-chief of Astronomy magazine.

Adam Nimoy and Christopher Fox Graham after I ❤ Pluto Festival giving the Vulcan Salute

Alan Stern and Christopher Fox Graham after I ❤ Pluto Festival giving the Pluto Salute

After the event, a number of us -- Nimoy, Levy, Eicher, my good friend Lowell Observatory Historian and Public Information Officer Kevin Schindler, Chief Marketing Officer Cody Half-Moon and Arizona State Rep. Justin Wilmeth [District 2], who wrote the bill the named Pluto as Arizona's Official State Planet in 2024 -- headed over Lowell Observatory's Giovale Open Deck Observatory to look through telescopes at Mars, Jupiter, the Moon and the Orion Nebula. The staff stayed after hours to keep the GODO in place so we could use the telescopes.

Giovale Open Deck Observatory

Afterward, as Levy, Eicher, Wilmeth and I were walking back to the parking lot, Kevin said he had a gift for me ...

... an asteroid!

29722 Chrisgraham (1999 AQ23)

According to the description:

"29722 Chrisgraham" was discovered Jan. 14, 1999, by LONEOS at Anderson Mesa. Christopher Fox Graham (b. 1979) is an American journalist and longtime managing editor of Sedona Red Rock News. He is a nationally-recognized slam poet who has written and performed multiple poems about Pluto and other space themes."

It's 4 to 5 kilometers in diameter, orbiting the sun in just over 1,552 days, or 4.249 years.

Current location of asteroid 29722 Chrisgraham (1999 AQ23)

It has an inclination of 14.70 degrees from the ecliptic:

Asteroid 29722 Chrisgraham (1999 AQ23) is off the ecliptic by 14.70 degrees

And an orbital eccentricity of 0.123 (0 being a perfect circle, 1 being a parabola; e.g., Earth has an eccentricity of 0.016709 while Halley's comet has an eccentricity of 0.96658):

Huge thanks to Larry Wasserman, Ph.D., the longtime Lowell Observatory astronomer who maintains the Asteroid Orbital Elements Database and sends nominations for asteroid names to the International Astronomical Union.

Special thanks to Kevin Schindler (obviously) and Justin Wilmeth, David Levy and David Eicher for being part of our impromptu celebration.

Track asteriod 29722 Chrisgraham (1999 AQ23) here: ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/tools/sbdb_lookup.html 

Osculating Orbital Elements

Epoch 2460800.5 (2025-May-05.0) TDB
Reference: JPL 57 (heliocentric IAU76/J2000 ecliptic)

Element	Value	Uncertainty (1-sigma)	Units
e	0.123863053596922	6.4653E-10
a	2.623394965358557	6.7557E-10	au
q	2.298453254158455	1.64E-9	au
i	14.70847304577334	3.2354E-8	deg
node	135.1805250376861	1.8459E-7	deg
peri	98.0162157504617	3.36E-7	deg
M	354.1630116692738	4.4962E-7	deg
tp	2460825.664034520440 2025-May-30.16403452	1.9454E-6	TDB
period	1552.007972959458 4.249166250402348	5.995E-7 1.6413e-9	d y
n	0.2319575712704176	8.96E-11	deg/d
Q	2.948336676558659	7.5925E-10	au

Huge thanks to Kevin and his team at Lowell Observatory who run an amazing event: Chief Marketing Officer Cody Half-Moon, Marketing Operations Coordinator Heather Craig, Communication Designer Alex Elbert, Brand Manager Sarah Gilbert and Content Writer Madison Mooney, as well as Lowell Observatory Operations Manager Amanda Bosh, Ph.D., who manages the observatory and the staff. She and Kevin are great at making the I ❤ Pluto Festival more than just an astronomy event by incorporating the community, bringing in local officials, glass-blower George Averbeck to create ornaments for the speakers, Mother Road Brewing Company founder Michael Marquess to brew a special beer every year and a poet to perform poems about Pluto and space.

Backstage in the green room at the Orpheum Theater with David Eicher, David Levy, Adam Nimoy, Kevin Schindler (standing) and Alan Stern, Ph.D., from left. Arizona State Rep. Justin Wilmeth [District 2] is reflected in the mirror.