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 |
---|---|---|---|
173002 Dorfi | 2006 OS | Ernst Dorfi (1956-2020), Austrian professor of theoretical astrophysics at the University of Vienna, promoter of astronomy | JPL · 173002 |
173032 Mingus | 2006 QF40 | Jose Antonio Lacruz Martin (born 1967), a member of the group of observers at Monte del Pardo, Madrid, who obtained his bachelor's degree in law at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. | JPL · 173032 |
173086 Nireus | 2007 RS8 | Nireus, son of Aglaea and Charopus, mythological Greek king of Syme island, killed by Eurypylos during the Trojan war | JPL · 173086 |
173094 Wielicki | 2007 TM69 | Krzysztof Wielicki (born 1950) is a Polish mountaineer. He was fifth man in the world to climb all fourteen of the world's 8000-m mountains. | JPL · 173094 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
173108 Ingola | 6240 P-L | Ingeborg Walpurga Gasperi (1915–2002) grew up in Germany and Switzerland. In 1942 she married Mario Gasperi, an Italian engineer and expert in the construction of airplanes. | JPL · 173108 |
173117 Promachus | 1973 SA1 | Promachus, Greek warrior of the Iliad, killed by the Trojan hero Acamas | JPL · 173117 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|
173395 Dweinberg | 2000 CJ149 | David Weinberg (born 1963), American astronomer with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, known for theoretical interpretation of observed galaxy clustering | JPL · 173395 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|
173649 Jeffreymoore | 2001 FS184 | Jeffrey M. Moore (born 1953) is a Research Scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center, who served as a Co-Investigator and Geology Science Team Lead for the New Horizons mission to Pluto. | JPL · 173649 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|
173872 Andrewwest | 2001 TJ245 | Andrew A. West (born 1977), an American astronomer with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey | JPL · 173872 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
173936 Yuribo | 2001 WM2 | Yuribo, official mascot character of the town of Kuma Kogen, Japan | JPL · 173936 |