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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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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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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576373 Wolfgangbusch | 2012 QX2 | Wolfgang Busch (born 1927), a German astronomical optician, who restores historical telescopes. While working as a high school teacher in the 1970s, he developed the "HAB", an oil-spaced triplet-lens apochromat DIY-kit for amateur astronomers (Src). The asteroid's name was proposed by Carolin Liefke. | IAU · 576373 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
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576465 Craigwoodhams | 2012 SZ56 | Description available (see ref). Please summarize in your own words. | IAU · 576465 |
576466 Scherpenisse | 2012 SM58 | Description available (see ref). Please summarize in your own words. | IAU · 576466 |
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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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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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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576853 Rafalreszelewski | 2012 VS61 | Rafał Reszelewski (born 1996) is a Polish observer of small Solar System bodies, and a discoverer of minor planets and several Kreutz sungrazers comets. He is a member of the "Teide Observatory Tenerife Asteroid Survey" (TOTAS) and proposed the name for asteroid (376574) Michalkusiak (Src). | IAU · 576853 |
576870 Országlili | 2012 VZ99 | Description available (see ref). Please summarize in your own words. | IAU · 576870 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
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576901 Adagio | 2012 WM27 | The Association pour le Développement Amateur d'un Grand Instrument d'Observation (ADAGIO) is a non-profit astronomical society which operates the 0.82-m telescope used for the discovery of (576901). | IAU · 576901 |