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 |
---|---|---|---|
125071 Lugosi | 2001 TX242 | Béla Lugosi (1883–1956), Hungarian actor known for his portrayal of Bram Stoker's classic vampire story Count Dracula in the 1927 Broadway production and subsequent 1931 theatrical version. | JPL · 125071 |
125076 Michelmayor | 2001 UD6 | Michel Mayor (born 1942) is a Swiss astrophysicist at Geneva University. | JPL · 125076 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
There are no named minor planets in this number range |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
There are no named minor planets in this number range |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
125371 Vojáček | 2001 VV71 | Vlastimil Vojáček (b. 1984), a Czech astronomer. | IAU · 125371 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
125473 Keisaku | 2001 WP14 | Keisaku Ninomiya (1804–1862), a Japanese medical doctor who studied Western medicine and pharmaceutics under the German doctor Philipp Franz von Siebold in Nagasaki | JPL · 125473 |
125476 Frangarcia | 2001 WE16 | Francisco Garcia (born 1959), Spanish amateur astronomer | JPL · 125476 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
125592 Buthiers | 2001 XO33 | Buthiers Observatory ( 199 ), where this minor planet was discovered by French astronomer Jean-Claude Merlin | JPL · 125592 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
There are no named minor planets in this number range |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
125718 Jemasalomon | 2001 XH105 | Jean-Marc Salomon (1955–1981), French amateur astronomer; the 0.6-m telescope with which this minor planet was discovered is also named in his honour | JPL · 125718 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
There are no named minor planets in this number range |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
There are no named minor planets in this number range |