NASA names asteroid after 'James Bond' star Sir Sean Connery

Tweeting about the announcement, NASA said, "Sir Sean Connery starred in the movie Meteor where he led NASA's efforts to defend Earth against an asteroid impact threat...decades before NASA appointed its first Planetary Defense Officer!"

The space agency then tweeted a video of Asteroid 13070 Seanconnery, which it had recorded on April 4 at Mt. Lemmon with a 1.5m survey telescope.

Asteroid 13070 Seanconnery floats in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and is 1.764km in diameter.

Notably, NASA naming the asteroid pays respect to Connery's role as Franciscan friar William of Baskerville in the movie The Name of the Rose.

The film's screenwriter Andrew Birkin said Connery accepted the role after filming his last Bond film, Never Say Never Again.

Birkin said Connery's role in the film was diametrically opposite to what he has been famous for as Bond.

Playing a friar investigating several deaths in an isolated abbey, Connery had infused a lot of philosophy into the role, quoting Aristotle.

He had even agreed to tonsure himself for the role and brought in a Scottish sense of humor to his introspective role.

Connery died in his sleep on October 31 at the age of 90.

His wife Micheline Roquebrune said his final days were bothered by dementia and that he was not able to express himself.

A host of actors who played Bond paid their heartfelt tributes to Connery.

Timothy Dalton, Daniel Craig, Pierce Brosnan, George Lazenby and Roger Moore's family paid their condolences.