George Takei isn't just a star. He's also a minor planet. Just like the Beatles, Meg Ryan and Shemp Howard.

"Isn't that something?" Takei marveled Wednesday, after learning this week that the asteroid formerly known as 1994 GT9 has been named in his honor.

The 70-year-old actor, best known for his navigational work as Lieutenant Sulu in TV's original Star Trek, said he was informed of the newly dubbed 7307 Takei by the Japanese American Citizens League.

It was Takei's work with that civil-rights group, along with the Human Rights Campaign, a gay-rights organization, but mostly his recent announcing stint on Howard Stern's satellite radio show that inspired Tom Burbine to lobby for the Takei-dubbed asteroid, the visiting professor of astronomy at Massachusetts' Mount Holyoke College said.

The International Astronomical Union, a Germany-based group which takes up matters such as what to call asteroids, also known as minor planets, through its Committee for Small Body Nomenclature, approved the request last week.

And so now if the former 1994 GT9, a five-mile-wide space rock currently unobservable from Earth, were to change course, and pursue a collision course with the defenseless third planet from the sun?

"It would be called the asteroid Takei [on the news]," Burbine said.

The 7307 Takei joins the likes of 4659 Roddenberry, named for Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, 68410 Nichols, named for Star Trek actress Nichelle Nichols, of Lieutenant Uhura rank and fame, and 2309 Mr. Spock, named for its discoverer's tabby cat, itself named for the Star Trek Vulcan first officer, per the Dictionary of Minor Planet Names.

But, wait, there's more. Lots more.

Coming in at asteroid number 5159 is the Burbine, named after a certain 41-year-old professor in Massachusetts.

"The thing with asteroids," Burbine said, about to make the world of astronomy sound like a night at the reservation desk at the Ivy, "if you know the right people..."

Or more to the point, if the right people know of you, then they'll nominate you, and, if the votes go your way, you'll become a part of the scientifically recognized cosmos. Just like Meg Ryan (the 8353 Megryan), Téa Leoni (the 8299 Tealeoni), the Beatles (the 8749 Beatles), and the four Stooges, Moe (30439), Larry (30440), Curly (30441) and not-to-be-forgotten Shemp (30444).

Scroll through the thousands and thousands of numbered minor planets, and you'll find everyone from Albert Einstein (the 2001 Einstein) to Phil Spector (18132 Spector) similarly honored.

Of Spector, whose recent murder trial ended in a hung jury, Burbine said, "He got it before all the trouble."

Burbine estimated that he has had a hand in naming about 30 asteroids. (He did not, however, name his own. "It'd be very bad form," he said.) Most of the names, he said, the general public wouldn't recognize—some are for friends and/or fellow professors. Two of the Burbine-branded asteroids, however, would be familiar to longtime listeners of radio's Loveline: the 4536 Drewpinsky, for the buttoned-down Dr. Drew; and the 4535 Adamcarolla, for the unzipped Adam Carolla.

The Pinsky and Carolla asteroids resulted from Burbine's first effort to name minor planets after more-celebrated personalities. The designations came through last year, Burbine said, but, outside of the usual space-orbit circles, "no one was that interested."

The media attention paid to the Takei asteroid, in the form of a much-linked Associated Press article, Burbine said, "was totally different. And I think it's because people really love George."

A confessed Trek fan, Burbine said he was surprised to see that, among the franchise's original cast members, only Nichols had a designated asteroid. As to why above all William Shatners and Leonard Nimoys he chose to take up Takei's cause, the professor said, "I thought it'd be better to do George first. I figured it would be better because I know George is a very, very nice guy." (Burbine met him once at a sci-fi con.)

Beyond Takei's gentlemanly ways, Burbine decided the Japanese-American actor was right for the 1994 GT9 because it was discovered—in 1994, natch—by a group of Japanese astronomers.

As much a Stern fan as he is a Trek fan, Burbine would love to see a Howard Stern asteroid, too, but "I don't think I could get it approved...even though he's a genius."

Under asteroid-naming rules, the Japanese astronomers had first dibs on what became the Takei asteroid. But their 10-year window of exclusivity closed a few years ago, with the 1994 GT9 still without a proper name. "These people discovered hundreds of [asteroids]," Burbine said of the Japanese scientists. "Maybe they lost interest."

Unnamed asteroids go into a general pool, awaiting names from the general population. Unlike businesses that "sell" stars, asteroid names can't be bought. And unlike U.S. postage stamps, proposed honorees need not be deceased to be commemorated.

According to the IAU Website, potential asteroid names should be, among other things, "non-offensive," "16 characters or less in length," and "pronounceable (in some language)." The group does discourage honoring political and military leaders with their own minor planets until they and their egos have been deceased for at least 100 years.

Takei, for one, is not well versed on the particulars of how his asteroid came to be, or even where it is (presently hiding out behind the sun, per Burbine). He confessed to being a civilian, not a Lieutenant Sulu, when it comes to such matters.

"I have a normal interest in space that every American does," Takei said. "[But] I try to reinforce that I am an actor, that I play a role."

Asked whether he took pleasure in beating Shatner and Nimoy to the asteroid belt, Takei was as gracious as his asteroid benefactor would have hoped.

"There's no competition here," Takei said. "As I said, this [honor] came out of the clear, blue sky."