Malala Yousafzai honoured with asteroid

An asteroid has been named in honour ofMalalaYousafzai, the children's rights activist who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year.

The four-kilometre wide object orbits the Sun every 5.5 years between Mars and Jupiter, according to a post from the NASA scientist who discovered it. The asteroid'sofficial name is316201 Malala.

• MalalaYousafzai'proud' to be Nobel Peace Prize co-winner

"If anyone deserves to have an asteroid named after them, she does!" Amy Mainzer wrote in an articleon the Malala Fund Blog.

Yousafzai, 17, won the Nobel Peace Prize last year along withIndia'sKailashSatyarthi, whose work also involves protecting the interests of young people.

An outspoken advocate for girls' education, Yousafzai was shot in the face while riding on a school bus inPakistan.The Taliban claimed responsibility for the 2012 attack.

Mainzer said it was a great honour to be able to name an asteroid afterYousafzai.

"My postdoctoral fellow Dr. Carrie Nugent brought to my attention the fact that although many asteroids have been named,very few have been named to honour the contributions of women (and particularly women of colour)," she wrote.

Yousafzaifounded and works with the Malala Fund to advocate for girls' education around the world. She is the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.