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 published in MPC's Minor Planet Circulars several times a year.[1] Recent citations can also be found on the JPL Small-Body Database (SBDB).[2] 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.[3][4] Based on Paul Herget's The Names of the Minor Planets,[5] Schmadel also researched the unclear origin of numerous asteroids, most of which had been named prior to World War II. Meanings marked with * are from legacy sources may not be accurate. This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document "SBDB".
Michael Ryschkewitsch (born 1951) of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), served as the NASA Headquarters Chief Engineer and then as the Head of the APL Space Department for the New Horizons Mission to Pluto.
Rebecca L. H. Sepan (born 1977), a senior mission operations analyst at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, served as a Flight Controller for the New Horizons Mission to Pluto.
This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document "SBDB".
