The author of the bestselling book series, which follows the adventures of boy wizard Harry, had her name put forward for the honour by astronomer Dr Mark Hammergren who recently discovered asteroid 43844.
The space rock has now officially been given the title Asteroid Rowling by the International Astronomical Union.
Dr Hammergren, who works at the Adler Planetarium, in Chicago, is a huge fan of the Potter books and admits once he had made his thrilling discovery there was only one name he wanted to give it.
He said: "I hadn't read any of the books until the autumn of 2004. But when I did I was hooked. So I immediately thought of naming the asteroid after JK Rowling." So far, the 'Harry Potter' books have sold over 300 million copies worldwide, and been turned into a hugely successful film series.