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".
Sanduk Ruit (born 1954) is a visionary Nepalese ophthalmologist who founded the Tilganga Eye Centre in Kathmandu. He also created the Himalayan Cataract Project, which had cured hundreds of thousands of cataract patients in poor countries
Yam Wing Wah (born 1963) is a chemistry professor at the University of Hong Kong. Her research interests are optoelectronic materials, photochromic and photoswitching materials. She won the 13th L´Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Awards 2011
Ai Weiwei (born 1957) is a Chinese artist and architectural designer. His most famous design was the Beijing National Stadium, more commonly called the Bird's Nest, the main stadium of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing
This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document "SBDB".
