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".
Thomas Pesquet (born 1978) is a French aerospace engineer, pilot and European Space Agency astronaut. From November 2016 to June 2017, Pesquet was part of Expedition 50 and Expedition 51 as a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station.
The ʻOʻo was a genus of birds native to the islands of Hawaiʻi. These birds nested in tree cavities and had black plumage. The last recording of the song of the ʻOʻo was in 1987 on Kauaʻi, and it is likely extinct on all islands.
This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document "SBDB".
