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 |
---|---|---|---|
217257 Valemangano | 2003 WU26 | Valeria Mangano (born 1971), a planetary scientist at the Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario in Torino. | JPL · 217257 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
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217366 Mayalin | 2004 TW49 | Maya Lin (born 1959) designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. (1980–1982) and the Civil Rights Memorial (1988–1989) in Montgomery, Alabama, along with many other monuments and works of art. For a time, she created artificial "asteroids" out of her daughters' discarded toys. | JPL · 217366 |
217398 Tihany | 2005 GC22 | Tihany, a historic village on the northern shore of Lake Balaton on the Tihany Peninsula. | JPL · 217398 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
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217420 Olevsk | 2005 QW148 | Olevsk, an ancient city founded in the times of Kievan Rus. | JPL · 217420 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
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217510 Dewaldroode | 2006 TY111 | Dewald Roode (1940–2009), a South African physicist, mathematician and computer scientist. | JPL · 217510 |
217576 Klausbirkner | 2007 YX56 | Klaus Birkner (born 1959), a long-time amateur astronomer and co-founder of the AAEM Observatory near Velbert, Germany. | JPL · 217576 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
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217603 Grove Creek | 2008 JW20 | Grove Creek Observatory, a professional research facility located at Trunkey Creek, New South Wales, Australia. | JPL · 217603 |
217628 Lugh | 1990 HA | Lugh (or Lugus), the Celtic God of the Sun and light. | JPL · 217628 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
217726 Kitabeppu | 1999 WN | Manabu Kitabeppu (born 1957), born in Kagoshima prefecture, is a retired Japanese baseball player who played for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. Famous for excellent ball control, Kitabeppu got 213 wins and 1757 strikeouts during his nineteen-year career as a starting pitcher. | IAU · 217726 |
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 |