List Of Named Minor Planets
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This is a list of named
minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''minor ...
s in an alphabetical, case-insensitive order grouped by the first letter of their name. New namings, typically proposed by the discoverer and approved by the
Working Group Small Body Nomenclature In ancient times, only the Sun and Moon, a few stars, and the most easily visible planets had names. Over the last few hundred years, the number of identified astronomical objects has risen from hundreds to over a billion, and more are discovered e ...
(WGSBN) of the
International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...
, are published nowadays in their ''WGSBN Bulletin'' and summarized in a dedicated list several times a year. Over the last four decades, the list has grown significantly with an average rate of 492 new namings published every year (or 1.35 namings per day). While in March 1979, only 1924 minor planets had received a name and completed the designation process, , the list contains 23,542 named objects. This, however, only accounts for of all numbered bodies, as there are over 600,000 minor planets with a well established orbit which is a precondition for receiving a name. Of all these minor-planet names, 1266 contain
diacritical mark A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacritic ...
s.


See also

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List of minor planet discoverers This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 numb ...
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List of minor planets named after animals and plants This is a list of minor planets named after animals and plants. Animals Plants See also * List of minor planets * List of minor planets named after people * List of minor planets named after places * List of minor planets named a ...
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List of minor planets named after people This is a list of minor planets named after people, both real and fictional. Science Astronomers Amateur *340 Eduarda (Heinrich Eduard von Lade, German) * 792 Metcalfia (Joel Hastings Metcalf, American) *828 Lindemannia (Adolph Friedrich Lindem ...
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List of minor planets named after places This is a list of minor planets named after places, organized by continent. Africa * 1193 Africa (Africa) Countries of Africa * 1197 Rhodesia (Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe) *1213 Algeria (Algeria) * 1268 Libya (Libya) * 1278 Kenya (Kenya) * 1279 Ugand ...
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List of minor planets named after rivers {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2013 This is a list of minor planets named after rivers, organized by continent. Africa * 1032 Pafuri ( Pafuri Triangle, South Africa) * 1264 Letaba ( Letaba River, South Africa) * 1305 Pongola (Pongola River, Sout ...
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List of observatory codes This is a list of observatory codes (IAU codes or MPC codes) published by the Minor Planet Center. For a detailed description, ''see observations of small Solar System bodies Observations of minor planets as well as comets and natural satellite ...
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Notes


References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web , title = Minor Planet Names: Alphabetical List , work = Minor Planet Center , date = 17 October 2022 , url = https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/lists/MPNames.html , access-date= 27 October 2022 {{cite web , title = WGSBN Bulletin Archive , work = Working Group Small Body Nomenclature , date = 24 October 2022 , url = https://www.wgsbn-iau.org/files/Bulletins/index.html , access-date= 27 October 2022 {{Cite journal , author = Pilcher, Frederick , date = December 1979 , title = An Updated Alphabetical List of Names of Minor Planets , url = http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1979MPBu....7...11P&data_type=PDF_HIGH , journal = The Minor Planet Bulletin , volume = 7 , pages = 11–15 , bibcode = 1979MPBu....7...11P , access-date= 26 June 2018 Lists of minor planets by name Minor planets by name