The following is a list of numbered

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 '' ...

s in ascending numerical order. With the exception of

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or Coma (cometary), coma, and sometimes also a Comet ta ...

s, minor planets are all small bodies in the Solar System, including

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the Solar System#Inner solar system, inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic o ...

s, distant objects and

dwarf planet A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit of the Sun, smaller than any of the eight classical planets but still a world in its own right. The prototypical dwarf planet is Pluto. The interest of dwarf planets to ...

s. The catalog consists of hundreds of pages, each containing 1,000 minor planets. Every year, the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

, which operates on behalf 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, outreach ...

, publishes thousands of newly numbered minor planets in its ''

Minor Planet Circular The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function T ...

s'' ''(see

index Index (or its plural form indices) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Index (''A Certain Magical Index''), a character in the light novel series ''A Certain Magical Index'' * The Index, an item on a Halo megastru ...

)''. , there are 619,150 numbered minor planets (secured discoveries) out of a total of 1,233,701 observed small Solar System bodies, with the remainder being unnumbered minor planets and comets. The catalog's first object is , discovered by

Giuseppe Piazzi Giuseppe Piazzi ( , ; 16 July 1746 – 22 July 1826) was an Italian Catholic priest of the Theatine order, mathematician, and astronomer. He established an observatory at Palermo, now the '' Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo – Giuseppe S ...

in 1801, while its best-known entry is

Pluto Pluto (minor-planet designation: 134340 Pluto) is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper belt, a ring of bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune. It is the ninth-largest and tenth-most-massive known object to directly orbit the Sun. It is the largest k ...

, listed as . The vast majority (97.3%) of minor planets are asteroids from the

asteroid belt The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...

(the catalog uses a color code to indicate a body's dynamical classification). There are more than a thousand different minor-planet discoverers observing from a growing list of registered observatories. In terms of numbers, the most prolific discoverers are

Spacewatch The Spacewatch Project is an astronomical survey that specializes in the study of minor planets, including various types of asteroids and comets at University of Arizona telescopes on Kitt Peak near Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. The Spa ...

LINEAR Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship ('' function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear ...

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

NEAT Neat may refer to: * Neat (bartending) Various unique terminology is used in bartending. Definitions and usage Straight, up, and straight up In bartending, the terms "straight up" and "up" ordinarily refer to an alcoholic drink that is ...

and

CSS Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in a markup language such as HTML or XML (including XML dialects such as SVG, MathML or XHTML). CSS is a cornerstone t ...

. There are also 23,542 named minor planets mostly after people, places and figures from mythology and fiction, which account for only of all numbered catalog entries. and are currently the lowest-numbered unnamed and highest-numbered named minor planets, respectively. It is expected that the upcoming survey by the

Vera C. Rubin Observatory The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, previously referred to as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), is an astronomical observatory currently under construction in Chile. Its main task will be carrying out a synoptic astronomical survey, the L ...

(LSST) will discover another 5 million minor planets during the next ten years—almost a tenfold increase from current numbers. While all main-belt asteroids with a diameter above 10 kilometers have already been discovered, there might be as many as 10 trillion 1-meter-sized asteroids or larger out to the orbit of Jupiter; and more than a trillion minor planets in the

Kuiper belt The Kuiper belt () is a circumstellar disc in the outer Solar System, extending from the orbit of Neptune at 30 astronomical units (AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, but is far larger—20 t ...

. For minor planets grouped by a particular aspect or property, ''see ''.

Description of partial lists

The list of minor planets consists of more than 600 partial lists, each containing 1000 minor planets grouped into 10 tables. The data is sourced from the

(MPC) and expanded with data from the JPL SBDB (mean-diameter), Johnston's archive (sub-classification) and others ''(see detailed field descriptions below)''. For an overview of all existing partial lists, ''see ''. The information given for a minor planet includes a permanent and provisional designation ''()'', a citation that links to the

meanings of minor planet names This is a list of minor planets which have been officially named by the Working Group Small Body Nomenclature (WGSBN) of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The list consists of partial pages, each covering a number range of 1,000 bodies c ...

(only if named), the discovery date, location, and credited discoverers ''( and )'', a category with a more refined classification than the principal grouping represented by the background color ''()'', a mean-diameter, sourced from JPL's SBDB or otherwise calculated estimates in italics ''()'', and a reference (Ref) to the corresponding pages at MPC and JPL SBDB. The MPC may credit one or several astronomers, a survey or similar program, or even the observatory site with the discovery. In the first column of the table, an existing stand-alone article is linked in boldface, while (self-)redirects are never linked. Discoverers, discovery site and category are only linked if they differ from the preceding catalog entry.

Example

, -bgcolor=#d6d6d6 , 189001 , , 4889 P-L , , — , , 24 September 1960 , , Palomar , , PLS , , — , , align=right , 3.4 km , , , -id=002 bgcolor=#fefefe , 189002 , , 6760 P-L , , — , , 24 September 1960 , , Palomar , , PLS , ,

NYS NYS may refer to: *New York Skyports Seaplane Base (IATA: NYS) * National Youth Service, of several countries * New York State * New York Shipbuilding, a corporation * Nyungar language Noongar (; also Nyungar ) is an Australian Aboriginal langu ...

, , align=right data-sort-value="0.96" , ''960 m'' , , , -id=003 bgcolor=#d6d6d6 , 189003 , , 3009 T-3 , , — , , 16 October 1977 , , Palomar , , PLS , , — , , align=right , ''5.1 km'' , , , -id=004 bgcolor=#C2FFFF , 189004 Capys , , 3184 T-3 , , , , 16 October 1977 , , Palomar , , PLS , , L5 , , align=right , ''12 km'' , , , -id=005 bgcolor=#E9E9E9 , 189005 , , 5176 T-3 , , — , , 16 October 1977 , , Palomar , , PLS , , — , , align=right , ''3.5 km'' , ,

The example above shows five catalog entries from one of the partial lists. All five asteroids were discovered at

Palomar Observatory Palomar Observatory is an astronomical research observatory in San Diego County, California, United States, in the Palomar Mountain Range. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Research time at the observat ...

by the

Palomar–Leiden survey The Palomar–Leiden survey (PLS) was a successful astronomical survey to study faint minor planets in a collaboration between the U.S Palomar Observatory and the Dutch Leiden Observatory, and resulted in the discovery of thousands of asteroids, ...

(PLS). The MPC directly credits the survey's principal investigators, that is, the astronomers

Cornelis van Houten Cornelis Johannes van Houten (18 February 1920 – 24 August 2002) was a Dutch astronomer, sometimes referred to as Kees van Houten. Early life and education Born in The Hague, he spent his entire career at Leiden University except for a brief ...

Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld (; 21 October 1921 – 30 March 2015) was a Dutch astronomer. Background In a jointly credited trio with Tom Gehrels and her husband Cornelis Johannes van Houten, she was the discoverer of many thousands of astero ...

and

Tom Gehrels Anton M.J. "Tom" Gehrels (February 21, 1925 – July 11, 2011) was a Dutch–American astronomer, Professor of Planetary Sciences, and Astronomer at the University of Arizona, Tucson. Biography Youth and education Gehrels was born at Haa ...

. (This is the only instance where the list of minor planets diverges from the ''Discovery Circumstances'' in the official MPC list.) 189004 Capys, discovered on 16 October 1977, is the only named minor planet among these five. Its background color indicates that it is a

Jupiter trojan The Jupiter trojans, commonly called trojan asteroids or simply trojans, are a large group of asteroids that share the planet Jupiter's orbit around the Sun. Relative to Jupiter, each trojan librates around one of Jupiter's stable Lagrange p ...

(from the

Trojan camp This is a list of Jupiter trojans that lie in the Trojan camp, an elongated curved region around the trailing Lagrangian point, 60° behind Jupiter. All the asteroids at the trailing point have names corresponding to participants on the Trojan ...

at Jupiter's ), estimated to be approximately 12 kilometers in diameter. All other objects are smaller asteroids from the inner (white), central (light-grey) and outer regions (dark grey) of the

. The provisional designation for all objects is an uncommon

survey designation Provisional designation in astronomy is the naming convention applied to astronomical objects immediately following their discovery. The provisional designation is usually superseded by a permanent designation once a reliable orbit has been calcu ...

Designation

After discovery, minor planets generally receive a

provisional designation Provisional designation in astronomy is the naming convention applied to astronomical objects immediately following their discovery. The provisional designation is usually superseded by a permanent designation once a reliable orbit has been calc ...

, e.g. , then a leading sequential number in parenthesis, e.g. , turning it into a permanent designation (numbered minor planet). Optionally, a name can be given, replacing the provisional part of the designation, e.g. . (On Wikipedia, named minor planets also drop their parenthesis.) In modern times, a minor planet receives a sequential number only after it has been observed several times over at least 4 oppositions. Minor planets whose orbits are not (yet) precisely known are known by their provisional designation. This rule was not necessarily followed in earlier times, and some bodies received a number but subsequently became

lost minor planet A minor planet is "lost" when today's observers cannot find it, because its location is too uncertain to target observations. This happens if the orbital elements of a minor planet are not known accurately enough, typically because the observat ...

s. The 2000 recovery of , which had been lost for nearly 89 years, eliminated the last numbered lost asteroid. Only after a number is assigned is the minor planet eligible to receive a name. Usually the discoverer has up to 10 years to pick a name; many minor planets now remain unnamed. Especially towards the end of the twentieth century, large-scale automated asteroid discovery programs such as

have increased the pace of discoveries so much that the vast majority of minor planets will most likely never receive names. For these reasons, the sequence of numbers only approximately matches the timeline of discovery. In extreme cases, such as lost minor planets, there may be a considerable mismatch: for instance the high-numbered was originally discovered in 1937, but it was a lost until 2003. Only after it was rediscovered could its orbit be established and a number assigned.

Discoverers

The MPC credits more than 1000 professional and amateur astronomers as

discoverers of minor planets 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 num ...

. Many of them have discovered only a few minor planets or even just co-discovered a single one. Moreover, a discoverer does not need to be a human being. There are about 300 programs, surveys and observatories credited as discoverers. Among these, a small group of U.S. programs and surveys actually account for most of all discoveries made so far ''(see pie chart)''. As the total of numbered minor planets is growing by the tens of thousands every year, all statistical figures are constantly changing. In contrast to the Top 10 discoverers displayed in this articles, the MPC summarizes the total of discoveries somewhat differently, that is by a distinct group of discoverers. For example, bodies discovered in the

Palomar–Leiden Survey The Palomar–Leiden survey (PLS) was a successful astronomical survey to study faint minor planets in a collaboration between the U.S Palomar Observatory and the Dutch Leiden Observatory, and resulted in the discovery of thousands of asteroids, ...

are directly credited to the program's principal investigators.

Discovery site

Observatories, telescopes and surveys that report astrometric observations of

small Solar System bodies A small Solar System body (SSSB) is an object in the Solar System that is neither a planet, a dwarf planet, nor a natural satellite. The term was first defined in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) as follows: "All other objects, ...

to the Minor Planet Center receive a numeric or alphanumeric MPC code such as

675 __NOTOC__ Year 675 ( DCLXXV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 675 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

for the

, or G96 for the

Mount Lemmon Survey Mount Lemmon Survey (MLS) is a part of the Catalina Sky Survey with observatory code G96. MLS uses a cassegrain reflector telescope (with 10560x10560-pixel camera at the f/1.6 prime focus, for a five square degree field of view) operated by ...

. On numbering, the MPC may directly credit such an observatory or program as the discoverer of an object, rather than one or several astronomers.

Diameter

If available, a minor planet's mean

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid fo ...

in meters (m) or kilometers (km) is taken from the

NEOWISE Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE, observatory code C51, Explorer 92 and SMEX-6) is a NASA infrared astronomy space telescope in the Explorers Program. It was launched in December 2009, and placed in hibernation mode in February 20 ...

mission of NASA's

Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE, observatory code C51, Explorer 92 and SMEX-6) is a NASA infrared astronomy space telescope in the Explorers Program. It was launched in December 2009, and placed in hibernation mode in February 2 ...

, which the Small-Body Database has also adopted. Mean diameters are rounded to two significant figures if smaller than 100 kilometers. Estimates are in italics and calculated from a magnitude-to-diameter conversion, using an assumed

albedo Albedo (; ) is the measure of the diffuse reflection of solar radiation out of the total solar radiation and measured on a scale from 0, corresponding to a black body that absorbs all incident radiation, to 1, corresponding to a body that refl ...

derived from the body's orbital parameters or, if available, from a

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

-specific mean albedo ''(also see asteroid family table)''.

Main index

This is an overview of all existing partial lists of numbered minor planets (LoMP). Each table stands for 100,000 minor planets, each cell for a specific partial list of 1,000 sequentially numbered bodies. The data is sourced from the

. For an introduction, ''see ''.

Numberings 1–100,000

Numberings 100,001–200,000

Numberings 200,001–300,000

Numberings 300,001–400,000

Numberings 400,001–500,000

Numberings 500,001–600,000

Numberings 600,001–700,000

Specific lists

Euler-Diagram bodies in the Solar System

The following are lists of minor planets by physical properties, orbital properties, or discovery circumstances: *

List of exceptional asteroids The following is a collection of lists of asteroids of the Solar System that are exceptional in some way, such as their size or orbit. For the purposes of this article, "asteroid" refers to minor planets out to the orbit of Neptune, and includes ...

(physical properties) **

List of slow rotators (minor planets) This is a list of slow rotators—minor planets that have an exceptionally long rotation period. This period, typically given in hours, and sometimes called rotation rate or spin rate, is a fundamental standard physical property for minor p ...

List of fast rotators (minor planets) This is a list of fast rotators—"minor planets" (which includes asteroids) that have an exceptionally short rotation period, also called "rotation rate" or "spin rate". In some cases the rotation period is not constant because the object ...

List of tumblers (small Solar System bodies) This is a list of tumblers, minor planets, comets and natural satellites whose angular momentum vector is far from the principal axis of inertia, so that they do not rotate in a fairly constant manner with a constant period. Instead of rotating ar ...

* List of instrument-resolved minor planets *

List of Jupiter trojans (Greek camp) This is a list of Jupiter trojans that lie in the Greek camp, an elongated curved region around the leading Lagrangian point (), 60 ° ahead of Jupiter in its orbit. All the asteroids at Jupiter's point have names corresponding to participants ...

List of Jupiter trojans (Trojan camp) This is a list of Jupiter trojans that lie in the Trojan camp, an elongated curved region around the trailing Lagrangian point, 60° behind Jupiter. All the asteroids at the trailing point have names corresponding to participants on the Trojan ...

List of minor planets visited by spacecraft The following tables list all minor planets and comets that have been visited by robotic spacecraft. List of minor planets visited by spacecraft A total of 17 minor planets (asteroids, dwarf planets, and Kuiper belt objects) have been visi ...

* List of minor planet moons *

List of minor-planet groups A minor-planet group is a population of minor planets that share broadly similar orbits. Members are generally unrelated to each other, unlike in an asteroid family, which often results from the break-up of a single asteroid. It is customary to n ...

List of named minor planets (alphabetical) This is a list of named minor planets 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 (WGSBN) o ...

List of named minor planets (numerical) This is a list of named minor planets in numerical order. , it contains a total of 23,542 named bodies. Minor planets for which no article exists redirect to the list of minor planets ''(see )''. Statistics See also * List of minor ...

List of possible dwarf planets The number of dwarf planets in the Solar System is unknown. Estimates have run as high as 200 in the Kuiper belt and over 10,000 in the region beyond. However, consideration of the surprisingly low densities of many large trans-Neptunian objects ...

* List of centaurs (small Solar System bodies) * List of trans-Neptunian objects * List of unnumbered minor planets ** List of unnumbered trans-Neptunian objects * Meanings of minor planet names ** List of minor planets named after people ** List of minor planets named after places ** List of minor planets named after rivers ** List of minor planets named after animals and plants

Notes

References

External links

How Many Solar System Bodies
Jet Propulsion Laboratory Small-Body Database

JPL Minor Planet Database for physical and orbital data
(of any Small Solar System Body or dwarf planet) * ; Minor Planet Center

(minor planets by number)
CNEOS
''Center for Near-Earth Object Studies'', NASA
PDS Asteroid Data Archive
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Minor planets Lists of small Solar System bodies