Stephen Fry has asteroid named after him

The comedian and Twitter personality tweeted his joy at the news.

Stephen Fry (Getty)

Comedian, actor and all-round smart guy Stephen Fry has tweeted his joy after learning an asteroid has been named after him.

The International Astronomical Union announced in its monthly bulletin that Minor Planet 5190 will now be called 5190 Fry.

It is one of over a hundred new planets given new names, although with 10 million Twitter followers Fry is probably one of the better known ones.

5190 Fry was actually discovered in 1990, but the process of giving a name to an asteroid can take decades. Experts must establish that they are not observing an already known object (hard, since asteroids must all look pretty similar).

Fry tweeted ‘Goodness! Thank you’, which is quite a demure response to learning there is a huge piece of rock flying around in space with your name on it.