Fans of the late Scottish author, Iain Banks, now only have to look towards the heavens in order to remember the staunch atheist after an asteroid has been named after him.

Asteroid 5099 is now officially known as Iainbanks. Dr Jose Luis Galache of the Minor Planets Centre (MPC), part of the International Astronomical Union in the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts applied for the name change after reading of the writer's battle with gall bladder cancer in April on his own website.

Writing on the MPC blog, Galache said: "When I heard of his sickness I immediately asked myself what I could do for Mr Banks, and the answer was obvious: Give him an asteroid!"

The author's science fiction novels, published under the name Iain M Banks, inspired Galache, who met Banks at a book signing when he was at grad school. The culture series chronicles a technologically advanced society that uses hollowed-out asteroids to travel faster than the speed of light.

"I'd like to think Mr Banks would have been amused to have his own rock," wrote Galache.

While the MPC has the authority to designate asteroid discoveries and assign them a number, it is the Committee for Small Body Nomenclature, also at the International Astronomical Union, that approves their names.

"We submitted a request to name an asteroid after Iain Banks with the hope that it would be approved soon enough for Mr Banks to enjoy it. Sadly, that has not been possible," wrote Galache.

The renaming was approved on 23 June; Banks died on 9 June.

The official citation for the asteroid reads: "Iain M. Banks (1954-2013) was a Scottish writer best known for the Culture series of science fiction novels; he also wrote fiction as Iain Banks. An evangelical atheist and lover of whisky, he scorned social media and enjoyed writing music. He was an extra in Monty Python & The Holy Grail."

The asteroid Iainbanks was discovered in 1985. The stony composition minor planet can be found in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. With a length of 6.1km, it takes nearly four (3.94) years to travel round the sun.