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".
Andrew John Elliott (1946–2010), a British observer who pioneered the use of low-light devices, precision timing and video methods in observing short-lived phenomena.
Peter Grosspointner (born 1960), a well-known Austrian amateur astronomer and treasurer of the Astronomischer Arbeitskreis Salzkammergut, one of Austria's largest astronomical societies.
Erwin Filimon (born 1959), a well-known Austrian amateur astronomer and long-term Chairman of the Astronomischer Arbeitskreis Salzkammergut, one of Austria's largest astronomical societies.
'hòmd{í}mà is the beautiful aardvark girl of Jul'hoan mythology who sometimes appears in stories as a python and sometimes as an elephant. She defends her people and punishes wrongdoers using g \| ám{í}g \| àmì spines, a raincloud full of hail, and her magical oryx horn G!ò'é !Hú. The satellite is being named G!ò'é !Hú.
ENIAC or Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, the first general-purpose electronic computer, a Turing-complete, digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems.
Arthur B. McDonald (born 1943) is a Canadian physicist who received the 2015 Nobel Prize for Physics for his discovery of neutrino oscillations, showing that the neutrino has mass.
Sichouzhilu (Silk Road) was an ancient network of trade and cultural transmission routes that connected Chang'an, China to the Mediterranean Sea. The Chang'an-Tianshan corridor was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2014.
This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document "SBDB".
