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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293131 Meteora | 2006 XV56 | The Meteora is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a formation of immense monolithic pillars in central Greece. Hill-like huge rounded boulders dominate the local area and six monasteries are built on the natural conglomerate pillars. | IAU · 293131 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|
293366 Roux | 2007 EQ9 | Pierre Paul Émile Roux (1853–1933), a French bacteriologist, close collaborator of Louis Pasteur, and co-founder of the Pasteur Institute | JPL · 293366 |
293383 Maigret | 2007 EZ38 | Jules Maigret, also known as "Commissaire Maigret", a fictional character created by writer Georges Simenon in 1931. Maigret is a French police detective and Commissaire a la Brigade Criminelle de Paris. | JPL · 293383 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
293477 Teotihuacan | 2007 FY | Teotihuacan is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico. Apart from the pyramids, Teotihuacan is also anthropologically significant for its complex, multi-family residential avenue of the dead; and the small portion of its vibrant murals that have been exceptionally well-preserved. | JPL · 293477 |
293499 Wolinski | 2007 GP5 | Georges Wolinski (1934–2015), a French cartoonist | JPL · 293499 |
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 |
---|---|---|---|
There are no named minor planets in this number range |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
293707 Govoradloanatoly | 2007 QT1 | Anatoliy Vasylyovych Govoradlo (born 1960), a physicist by education, who is also known as a Ukrainian poet and composer. | JPL · 293707 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
293809 Zugspitze | 2007 RD162 | Zugspitze, located in the Alps, the highest mountain (2962 m) in Germany. | JPL · 293809 |
293878 Tapping | 2007 RV274 | Kenneth Tapping (born 1945), a solar physicist at the NRC-Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory. | JPL · 293878 |
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
293909 Matterhorn | 2007 SS2 | The Matterhorn (Monte Cervino; Mont Cervin), a remarkably shaped mountain in the Alps on the border between Switzerland and Italy | JPL · 293909 |
293926 Harrystine | 2007 TJ1 | G. Harry Stine (1928–1997), one of the founding figures of model rocketry (hobby of spacemodeling) in the 1950s, enjoyed by millions of enthusiasts today. He also founded the National Association of Rocketry. | JPL · 293926 |
293934 MPIA | 2007 TM8 | The Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, abbreviated MPIA, at Heidelberg in Germany | JPL · 293934 |
293985 Franquin | 2007 TF69 | André Franquin (1924–1997), a Belgian comics artist, producer of the Spirou and Fantasio strip, and creator of the characters Gaston Lagaffe and Marsupilami | JPL · 293985 |