What do Elvis Presley, Malala Yousafzai, and Albert Einstein have in common? They all have asteroids named after them. Thousands of asteroids are discovered each year, and many are named for astronomers’ relatives or colleagues. But as discoveries have increased in recent decades, scientists have started focusing more on the famous, honoring people such as Tom Hanks, Jennifer Lawrence, and the Beatles. Still, the list of names is short on women and people of color, experts note, likely because the profession of planetary science has historically been overwhelmingly White and male. But some people, such as astronomer Amy Mainzer, are working to change that by suggesting the names of those that might otherwise get left out, including Yousafzai and Harriet Tubman. “It’s a small thing,” Mainzer told The Washington Post. “But at the same time, names are important. They reflect what’s important in our culture and who’s important in our culture.”

Paul Fleet/500px Plus/Getty Images (Asteroids); Hulton Archive/Getty Images (Elvis); PictureLux/The Hollywood Archive/Alamy Stock Photo (Parks); Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival (Hanks); Louise Kennerley/Fairfax Media via Getty Images (Malala); Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images (Tubman); Bettmann Archive/Getty Images (Einstein)