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).[1] Before May 2021, citations were published in MPC's Minor Planet Circulars for many decades.[2] Recent citations can also be found on the JPL Small-Body Database (SBDB).[3] 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.[4][5]
Based on Paul Herget's The Names of the Minor Planets,[6] 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.[7] The WGSBN publishes a comprehensive guideline for the naming rules of non-cometary small Solar System bodies.[8]
87001–87100
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 87088 Joannewheeler | 2000 LY | Joanne Wheeler (born 1971) is a Member of the Order of the British Empire for her services to space. She is a leader in the space law discipline, and a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and Royal Aeronautical Society. She has drafted U.K. space law, supported the growth of space companies and briefed on asteroid exploration. | JPL · 87088 |
| 87097 Lomaki | 2000 LJ10 | The Lomaki pueblo, one of smaller pueblos surrounding the main Wupatki pueblo (Wupatki National Monument) in northern Arizona. Its ruins preserve clues to geologic history, ecological change and ancient human agricultural settlement. Lomaki pueblo was built on the edge of a canyon in the 1190s (List of Ancestral Puebloan dwellings in Arizona). | JPL · 87097 |
87101–87200
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 87142 Delsanti | 2000 NL13 | Audrey Delsanti (born 1976) is an associate professor at the University of Aix-Marseille (France) who studies the chemical composition and physical properties of small bodies across the Solar System. | IAU · 87142 |
87201–87300
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 87219 Marcbernstein | 2000 OH39 | Marc Bernstein (born 1953) provided technical leadership and expertise for 32 years as a member of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory staff. This naming was on the occasion of his retirement as associate director and from the Lincoln Laboratory Steering Committee. | IAU · 87219 |
| 87271 Kokubunji | 2000 PY3 | Kokubunji, a city in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. | JPL · 87271 |
87301–87400
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 87312 Akirasuzuki | 2000 QK1 | Akira Suzuki (born 1930) has developed a new research topic that is globally recognized as the Suzuki coupling reaction. It is for this achievement that he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2010. | JPL · 87312 |
87401–87500
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| There are no named minor planets in this number range | |||
87501–87600
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| There are no named minor planets in this number range | |||
87601–87700
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 87644 Cathomen | 2000 RJ77 | Rita Cathomen (born 1940) and her husband Ignaz (born 1934) live in Falera, Switzerland. In 1979, they learned about a possible megalithic menhir formation in Falera. After re-erecting 33 of 34 fallen menhirs, Ignaz provided guided tours during the summer until 2019. | IAU · 87644 |
87701–87800
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| There are no named minor planets in this number range | |||
87801–87900
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| There are no named minor planets in this number range | |||
87901–88000
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 87954 Tomkaye | 2000 TK | Tom Kaye (born 1957) is an American businessman and amateur astronomer. In March 2000, he collaborated with others to detect a previously discovered extrasolar planet Tau Boötis b around the star Tau Boötis using the doppler shift method with a 0.4-m telescope and home-built spectrograph. The name was suggested by Mark Trueblood. | JPL · 87954 |
References
- ^ "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.
This page was last edited on 12 November 2023, at 15:07