On September 25, 2018, according to the " Minor Planet Circulars" released by the International Astronomical Union, asteroid 79286 Hexiantu was named in the honor of Professor Xiantu He, the honorary director of the Center for Applied Physics and Technology (CAPT) of Peking University.

The asteroid 79286 Hexiantu was discovered at Xinglong, Beijing on Sept. 28, 1995 by Beijing Schmidt CCD Asteroid Program. Its provisional number is 1995 SQ53.

Xiantu He is a leading theoretical physicist. He served as the first director of CAPT from December 2007 to September 2017. He has long been engaged in major national tasks as well as nuclear fusion and plasma physics, theoretical physics research. And he has done a lot of pioneering work in the physical theory research, design and laboratory simulation research of national missions. In the research of inertial confinement fusion, he has organized and led the research work in this field and established an independent research system in China. In the basic research, he is mainly engaged in high energy density physics, non-equilibrium statistical physics, laser and plasma interaction, laser fusion physics and nonlinear science. He has won several State Natural Science Awards and National Science and Technology Progress Awards.

The Center for Applied Physics and Technology (CAPT) was established in December 2007 by Peking University and the China Academy of Engineering Physics. The purpose of the center is to actively explore a number of scientific frontier issues such as challenging high energy density physics, to actively carry out academic exchanges at home and abroad, and to cultivate and train a group of outstanding talents with innovative ability and dedication.