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). Before May 2021, citations were published in MPC's Minor Planet Circulars for many decades. Recent citations can also be, found on the JPL Small-Body Database (SBDB). 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.
Based on Paul Herget's The Names of the Minor Planets, 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. The WGSBN publishes a comprehensive guideline for the naming rules of non-cometary small Solar System bodies.
7001–7100※
Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
---|---|---|---|
7001 Noether | 1955 EH | Emmy Noether (1882–1935), German mathematician | JPL · 7001 |
7002 Bronshten | 1971 OV | Vitalii Aleksandrovich Bronshten (1918–2004), Russian meteor researcher | JPL · 7002 |
7003 Zoyamironova | 1976 SZ9 | Zoya Sergeevna Mironova (1913–2008), Russian physician, specialist in sports medicine and trauma specialist to the Russian cosmonauts | JPL · 7003 |
7004 Markthiemens | 1979 OB9 | Mark H. Thiemens (born 1950), American chemist and areologist | JPL · 7004 |
7005 Henninghaack | 1981 ET25 | Henning Haack (born 1961), Danish curator of meteorites at the Geologisk Museum (Geological Museum) of the København Universitet (University of Copenhagen) | JPL · 7005 |
7006 Folco | 1981 ER31 | Luigi Folco (born 1965), Italian curator of meteorites at the National Museum of Antarctica ("Felice Ippolito") of the Universities of Genova, Siena and Trieste | JPL · 7006 |
7007 Timjull | 1981 EK34 | A. J. Timothy Jull (born 1951), American meteoriticist, editor of the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science | JPL · 7007 |
7008 Pavlov | 1985 QH5 | Nikolaj Nikiforovich Pavlov (1902–1985), Russian astronomer | MPC · 7008 |
7009 Hume | 1987 QU1 | David Hume (1711–1776), British philosopher | MPC · 7009 |
7010 Locke | 1987 QH3 | John Locke (1632–1704), British philosopher | MPC · 7010 |
7011 Worley | 1987 SK1 | Charles Edmund Worley (1935–1997), American astronomer † | MPC · 7011 |
7012 Hobbes | 1988 CH2 | Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), British political philosopher | MPC · 7012 |
7013 Trachet | 1988 RS4 | Tim Trachet (born 1958), Belgian journalist and "science writer." He is honorary chairman and general secretary of the Belgian skeptical organization, "SKEPP," and the vice-chairman of the European Council of Skeptical Organisations, which he co-founded in 1994. | JPL · 7013 |
7014 Nietzsche | 1989 GT4 | Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), German philosopher | MPC · 7014 |
7015 Schopenhauer | 1990 QC8 | Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860), German philosopher | MPC · 7015 |
7016 Conandoyle | 1991 YG | Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930), Scottish writer and physician, best known for his character Sherlock Holmes and his detective fiction | JPL · 7016 |
7017 Uradowan | 1992 CE2 | The Urado Bay, located in Kochi, Japan | JPL · 7017 |
7019 Tagayuichan | 1992 EM1 | "Tagayuichan", a little girl dressed as a shrine maiden, is the official mascot of Taga Town in Shiga Prefecture. | JPL · 7019 |
7020 Yourcenar | 1992 GR2 | Marguerite Yourcenar (1903–1987), pseudonym of French-Belgian-American writer Marguerite de Crayencour | MPC · 7020 |
7021 Tomiokamachi | 1992 JN1 | Tomiokamachi, a town in Fukushima prefecture, Japan. | JPL · 7021 |
7023 Heiankyo | 1992 KE | "Heiankyo", meaning "Peaceful Capital", is another name of Kyoto, Japan | JPL · 7023 |
7026 Gabrielasilang | 1993 QB1 | Gabriela Silang (1731–1763) was a leader of the Filipino fight for independence from Spain. A statue honoring her in Manila depicts her on a rearing horse, brandishing bolo knife. | JPL · 7026 |
7027 Toshihanda | 1993 XT | Toshihiro Handa (born 1959), a research associate at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Tokyo. | JPL · 7027 |
7028 Tachikawa | 1993 XC1 | Tachikawa, a suburban city west of Tokyo. JPL | MPC · 7028 |
7030 Colombini | 1993 YU | Ermes Colombini (born 1956), an Italian amateur astronomer at San Vittore Observatory | MPC · 7030 |
7031 Kazumiyoshioka | 1994 UU | Kazumi Yoshioka (born 1953), an amateur astronomer who has published articles on astrophotography since 1988. | JPL · 7031 |
7032 Hitchcock | 1994 VC2 | Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980), a British-born American movie director and producer. | JPL · 7032 |
7035 Gomi | 1995 BD3 | Kazuaki Gomi (1911–2000), amateur astronomer and long-time observer of variable stars. | JPL · 7035 |
7036 Kentarohirata | 1995 BH3 | Kentaro Hirata, an amateur astronomer in Yanagawa city. | JPL · 7036 |
7037 Davidlean | 1995 BK3 | David Lean (1908–1991), British film director. | JPL · 7037 |
7038 Tokorozawa | 1995 DJ2 | Tokorozawa City is located in the south of Saitama Prefecture, Japan. The first airport in Japan was opened there in 1911 | JPL · 7038 |
7039 Yamagata | 1996 GO2 | The Yamagata Prefecture in Japan | MPC · 7039 |
7040 Harwood | 2642 P-L | Margaret Harwood (1885–1979) was an American astronomer and the first Director of the Maria Mitchell Observatory | MPC · 7040 |
7041 Nantucket | 4081 P-L | Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, United States, where the Maria Mitchell Observatory is located | MPC · 7041 |
7042 Carver | 1933 FE1 | George Washington Carver (1860–1943), credited by many as the first black American scientist. | JPL · 7042 |
7043 Godart | 1934 RB | Odon Godart (1913–1996), Belgian mathematician. | JPL · 7043 |
7046 Reshetnev | 1977 QG2 | Mikhail Fedorovich Reshetnev (1924–1996), an authority on theoretical and applied mechanics. | JPL · 7046 |
7047 Lundström | 1978 RZ9 | Magnus Lundström (born 1967), Swedish astronomer † Archived 2007-06-24 at the Wayback Machine | MPC · 7047 |
7048 Chaussidon | 1981 EH34 | Marc Chaussidon (born 1961), French geochemist | JPL · 7048 |
7049 Meibom | 1981 UV21 | Anders Meibom (born 1970), Danish meteoriticist | JPL · 7049 |
7051 Sean | 1985 JY | Sean Colin Woodard, grandson of the discoverers Carolyn and Eugene Shoemaker | JPL · 7051 |
7052 Octaviabutler | 1988 VQ2 | Octavia E. Butler (1947–2006) was an African American author. Her work won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards and is praised for its incisive social criticism. | JPL · 7052 |
7054 Brehm | 1989 GL8 | Christian Ludwig Brehm (1787–1864) and Alfred Edmund Brehm (1829–1884), father and son, are two Thuringian naturalists. | JPL · 7054 |
7055 Fabiopagan | 1989 KB | Fabio Pagan (born 1946) is an Italian science journalist who covers space travel, astrobiology and physics. He has written for Trieste's Il Piccolo newspaper and he was a radio presenter on RAI, Italy's public national broadcaster. He was also press officer at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste | JPL · 7055 |
7056 Kierkegaard | 1989 SE2 | Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), Danish religious philosopher | MPC · 7056 |
7057 Al-Fārābī | 1990 QL2 | Al-Farabi (c. 872–951) spent much of his life in Baghdad as a prominent philosopher, scientist and music scholar. He revived and internationalized the Aristotelian tradition, translated the philosopher's works from Greek to Arabic, and preserved and expanded upon them in his own writings | JPL · 7057 |
7058 Al-Ṭūsī | 1990 SN1 | Sharaf al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (1135-c. 1213) was a Persian mathematician and astronomer who invented the linear astrolabe and developed new algebraic methods for solving certain types of cubic equations with positive solutions | JPL · 7058 |
7059 Van Dokkum | 1990 SK3 | Pieter van Dokkum (born 1972), a Dutch astronomer who studies the evolution of galaxies over cosmic time | JPL · 7059 |
7060 Al-ʿIjliya | 1990 SF11 | Al-ʻIjliyyah a 10th-century astrolabe maker working in the court of Sayf Al-Dawla, who was the emir of Aleppo from 945 to 967. Her father was also an astrolabe maker, and both were apprentices of Nastulus | JPL · 7060 |
7061 Pieri | 1991 PE1 | David C. Pieri (born 1949), American planetary geologist and volcanologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. | JPL · 7061 |
7062 Meslier | 1991 PY5 | Jean Meslier (1664–1729), a French priest and philosopher | MPC · 7062 |
7063 Johnmichell | 1991 UK | John Michell (1724–1793), an English clergyman and member of the Royal Society who studied geology, astronomy and gravity. He showed that gravity might explain double stars and star clusters, and he was the first to suggest the existence of black holes. | JPL · 7063 |
7064 Montesquieu | 1992 OC5 | Montesquieu (1689–1755), French political thinker | MPC · 7064 |
7065 Fredschaaf | 1992 PU2 | Fred Schaaf (born 1954) has spent a lifetime interpreting the night sky for the public. His monthly columns for Sky & Telescope magazine, begun in 1993, have introduced countless readers to the simple joy of locating planet, bright star. Or constellation. He has also authored more than a dozen books on popular astronomy | JPL · 7065 |
7066 Nessus | 1993 HA2 | Nessus, mythological Greek centaur | MPC · 7066 |
7067 Kiyose | 1993 XE | Kiyose City, a western suburb of Tokyo, Japan | JPL · 7067 |
7068 Minowa | 1994 WD1 | Toshiyuki Minowa (1918–), Japanese amateur astronomer | MPC · 7068 |
7072 Beijingdaxue | 1996 CB8 | University of Beijing, founded in 1898, and the oldest national university in China | MPC · 7072 |
7073 Rudbelia | 1972 RU1 | Ol'ga Ivanovna Belyaeva (née Rudneva) is a teacher of English at the Moscow College and Institute of Economics, Politics and Law. | JPL · 7073 |
7074 Muckea | 1977 RD3 | Hermann Mucke, (1935–2019), director of the Urania Sternwarte and planetarium in Vienna. | JPL · 7074 |
7075 Sadovnichij | 1979 SN4 | Viktor Sadovnichiy (born 1939), Russian mathematician, Rector of the Moscow State University | MPC · 7075 |
7076 Divnýjanko | 1980 UC | Janko Kráĺ (1822–1876), a Slovak poet. | IAU · 7076 |
7077 Shermanschultz | 1982 VZ | Sherman Schultz (1922–), American astronomy teacher at Macalester College for over 30 years, and who made many contributions to amateur telescope making † | MPC · 7077 |
7078 Unojönsson | 1985 UH3 | Uno Jönsson (born 1937), Swedish astronomer, author and friend of the discoverer Claes-Ingvar Lagerkvist | MPC · 7078 |
7079 Baghdad | 1986 RR | Baghdad was founded near one of the foremost cities of old Mesopotamia by the Arab Abbasid dynasty in the eighth century. Its beauty has inspired many poets and musicians, and it is still well known from stories such as Thousand and One Nights. | JPL · 7079 |
7081 Ludibunda | 1987 QF7 | From the Latin ludibundus, meaning "merry/joyful", Ludibunda is a frolicsome, playful woman, on the same pilgrimage as 6620 Peregrina, but of strongly contrasting temper. | JPL · 7081 |
7082 La Serena | 1987 YL1 | La Serena, Chile, a beautiful small city near the Pacific, about 600 km north of Santiago de Chile. | JPL · 7082 |
7083 Kant | 1989 CL3 | Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), German philosopher | MPC · 7083 |
7086 Bopp | 1991 TA1 | Thomas Bopp (1949–2018), American amateur astronomer and discoverer of Comet Hale–Bopp | MPC · 7086 |
7087 Lewotsky | 1991 TG4 | Kristin and Gretchen Lewotsky, friends of the American discoverer Eleanor Helin | MPC · 7087 |
7088 Ishtar | 1992 AA | Ishtar, Akkadian goddess | MPC · 7088 |
7091 Maryfields | 1992 JA | Mary Fields (c. 1832–1914) was an African-American folk hero and trailblazer. She was a mail carrier in Montana in her 60s, braving harsh weather. But never missing a day. Loved by her community, her birthday was a local holiday. She refused to be limited by social norms or laws. | JPL · 7091 |
7092 Cadmus | 1992 LC | Cadmus, Greek mythological figure | MPC · 7092 |
7093 Jonleake | 1992 OT | Jonathan Richard Leake (born 1959), British journalist, Science and Environment Editor for The Sunday Times | JPL · 7093 |
7094 Godaisan | 1992 RJ | Godaisan, a mountain in the Kōchi Prefecture of Japan. | JPL · 7094 |
7095 Lamettrie | 1992 SB22 | Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709–1751), French medical doctor and philosopher | MPC · 7095 |
7096 Napier | 1992 VM | William M. Napier (born 1940), Scottish astronomer | MPC · 7096 |
7097 Yatsuka | 1993 TF | Yatsuka, a town in the Shimane Prefecture and home of Japanese discoverer Hiroshi Abe | JPL · 7097 |
7098 Réaumur | 1993 TK39 | René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur (1683–1757), a French scientist and important entomologist. | JPL · 7098 |
7099 Feuerbach | 1996 HX25 | Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach (1804–1872), German philosopher and moralist | MPC · 7099 |
7100 Martin Luther | 1360 T-2 | Martin Luther (1483–1546), German theologian and religious reformer | JPL · 7100 |
7101–7200※
7201–7300※
7301–7400※
7401–7500※
7501–7600※
7601–7700※
7701–7800※
7801–7900※
7901–8000※
- ^ "WGSBN Bulletin Archive". Working Group Small Body Nomenclature. 14 May 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
- ^ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
- ^ "JPL – Solar System Dynamics: Discovery Circumstances". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
- ^ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
- ^ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2006). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – Addendum to Fifth Edition: 2003–2005. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. ISBN 978-3-540-34360-8. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
- ^ Herget, Paul (1968). The Names of the Minor Planets. Cincinnati, Ohio: Minor Planet Center, Cincinnati Observatory. OCLC 224288991.
- ^ "Guide to Minor Body Astrometry – When can I name my discovery?". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
- ^ "Minor Planet Naming Guidelines (Rules and Guidelines for naming non-cometary small Solar-System bodies) – v1.0" (PDF). Working Group Small Body Nomenclature (PDF). 20 December 2021.
- ^ "The USNO Asteroid Connection" (PDF). The USNO Transit. 1 (2). April–May 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 5, 2014. Retrieved 2014-09-04.
Preceded by | Meanings of minor planet names List of minor planets: 7,001–8,000 |
Succeeded by |
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