As minor planet discoveries are confirmed, they are given a permanent number by the IAU's Minor Planet Center (MPC), and the discoverers can then submit names for them, following the IAU's naming conventions. The list below concerns those minor planets in the specified number-range that have received names, and explains the meanings of those names.
Official naming citations of newly named small Solar System bodies are approved and published in a bulletin by IAU's Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN). [1] Before May 2021, citations were published in MPC's Minor Planet Circulars for many decades. [2] Recent citations can also be found on the JPL Small-Body Database (SBDB). [3] Until his death in 2016, German astronomer Lutz D. Schmadel compiled these citations into the Dictionary of Minor Planet Names (DMP) and regularly updated the collection. [4] [5]
Based on Paul Herget's The Names of the Minor Planets , [6] Schmadel also researched the unclear origin of numerous asteroids, most of which had been named prior to World War II. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain : SBDB New namings may only be added to this list below after official publication as the preannouncement of names is condemned. [7] The WGSBN publishes a comprehensive guideline for the naming rules of non-cometary small Solar System bodies. [8]
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
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There are no named minor planets in this number range |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
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89131 Phildevries | 2001 UC12 | Phil DeVries (born 1952), an American entomologist who teaches in the Department of Biological Science at the University of New Orleans. Recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, he published two books on Costa Rica butterflies. | JPL · 89131 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
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89264 Sewanee | 2001 VN2 | The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, home institution of the Cordell-Lorenz Observatory | JPL · 89264 |
89282 Suzieimber | 2001 VD17 | Suzie Imber (born 1983) is a planetary scientist, an accomplished mountaineer, elite sportswoman, and TV personality. She is a direct and powerful inspiration for the next generation through her extensive STEM outreach activities, presenting to many thousands of school children about space exploration. | JPL · 89282 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
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There are no named minor planets in this number range |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
89455 Metzendorf | 2001 XJ1 | Wilhelm Metzendorf (1911–1988) was mayor of the district town of Heppenheim in Germany from 1954 to 1973 and was instrumental in the construction of the Starkenburg Observatory. | IAU · 89455 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
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There are no named minor planets in this number range |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
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89664 Pignata | 2001 YU5 | Giuliano Pignata (born 1972), an Italian astronomer and a member of the Asiago-DLR Asteroid Survey (ADAS), contributes in a decisive way to the calibration and adaptation of the CCD detector to the telescope. His main research interest is now supernovae, but he still searches for minor planets in supernova survey images. | JPL · 89664 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
89735 Tommei | 2002 AM | Giacomo Tommei (born 1978), Italian mathematician who carried out research at the University of Pisa on the impact monitoring of near-Earth objects. His research interests in celestial mechanics include the orbit determination and dynamics of NEOs. | JPL · 89735 |
89739 Rampazzi | 2002 AL7 | Francesca Rampazzi (born 1945), an Italian communications specialist, is responsible for communication and editing for the National Telescope Galileo. She is active in the project to digitize the photographic archives of the Asiago Astrophysical Observatory and instrumental in maintaining the Asiago Astrophysical Observatory's ADAS archive. | JPL · 89739 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
89818 Jureskvarč | 2002 AX203 | Jure Skvarč (born 1964), Slovenian software engineer and a discoverer of minor planets, who created the data-analysis software for the minor planet and comet search project at the Črni Vrh Observatory and in the Astrovirtel survey of the University of Padua. | JPL · 89818 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
89903 Post | 2002 DL3 | Cecil Post (1917–2013), an American amateur astronomer and former engineer in the antenna section of the physical sciences laboratory in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He was an early and active member of the Astronomical Society of Las Cruces and was a frequent officer, including president, of that organization (Src). | JPL · 89903 |
89909 Linie | 2002 ET2 | Linie, avant-garde association of artists active in České Budějovice, Czech Republic, 1931–1939 | JPL · 89909 |
89956 Leibacher | 2002 LJ5 | John Leibacher (born 1941), an American solar astronomer. He is the principal investigator of the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) project that studies the physics of the solar interior at six locations around the world. Leibacher is also a former director of the National Solar Observatory. | JPL · 89956 |
89973 Aranyjános | 2002 RR117 | János Arany (1817–1882), a Hungarian writer, poet, journalist and translator, who 0 wrote more than 40 ballads (translated into over 50 languages), as well as the Toldi trilogy, to mention his most famous works. He is considered to be the most literary Hungarian writer | JPL · 89973 |