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Annoyingly precocious teen who ruined Trek is now an asteroid

Asteroid 391257 is now Asteroid Wil Wheaton

Actor Asteroid 391257, who rose to prominence for playing annoyingly precocious teen Starfleet member Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation, now has an asteroid named after him.

Wheaton has gone on to earn a respected place in SciFi fandom, largely escaping fan ire about the Crusher character who even by the Trek universe's standards of earnestness stood out as impossibly noble.

Crusher also managed to save the Enterprise on more occasions than seemed plausible, given his lack of education and experience and the presence of many senior officers aboard ship. Indeed, the character failed a Starfleet Academy entrance exams, but still managed to out-perform trained peers.

Crusher therefore polarised Trek fans. Wheaton says he thinks those who dislike the character are a vocal minority.

He can now think whatever he wants because he has an asteroid named after him. The rock formerly known as Asteroid 391257 joins several other objects named for Trek alumni that NASA has chosen to honour.

Those of us without eponymous asteroids just have to be content with Planet Trump. ®

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