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 |
---|---|---|---|
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 |
---|---|---|---|
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 |
---|---|---|---|
483454 Hosszúkatinka | 2002 AF17 | Katinka Hosszú (born 1989) is a three-time Olympic champion Hungarian swimmer, who specializes in individual medley events. She is a nine-time long-course, and seventeen-time short-course world champion, and has broken 20 world records since 2013. | IAU · 483454 |
483488 Wudeshi | 2002 RF257 | Wu Deshi (born 1969) of Liuan, Anhui, is a Chinese meteorite hunter who founded the first private meteorite museum in China, the Wujuelin Meteorite Pavilion in Tibet; he has found 56 meteorites in the Xinjiang desert, and he writes and talks extensively about meteorites. | JPL · 483488 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|
483615 Martinmccarthy | 2004 SP41 | Fr. Martin F. McCarthy, SJ (1923-2010), American astronomer noted for studying carbon stars. He served the Vatican Observatory from 1958 to 1999, where he oversaw their transition to doing modern research and started the observatory's Summer Schools in Astrophysics. | IAU · 483615 |
483636 Treanor | 2004 TJ347 | Fr. Patrick Treanor, SJ (1920-1978), English astronomer. Won the Johnson Memorial Prize at Oxford University for his doctoral thesis on interference phenomena, and later served as director of the Vatican Observatory from 1970 until his death. | IAU · 483636 |
483637 Johanstein | 2004 TM347 | Johan Stein, SJ (1888-1952), Dutch astronomer. Director of the Vatican Observatory from 1930 until his death, he opened the observatory to 12,000 refugees during World War II. He is also the namesake for the lunar crater Stein. | IAU · 483637 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|
483951 Fiorella | 2006 BM147 | Fiorella Isoardi (b. 1954), an Italian astronomy. | IAU · 483951 |