All
astronomical bodies in the Solar System need a distinct designation. The
naming of minor planets runs through a three-step process. First, a provisional designation is given upon discovery—because the object still may turn out to be a false positive or
become lost later on—called a
provisionally designated minor planet. After the
observation arc is accurate enough to predict its future location, a minor planet is formally designated and receives a number. It is then a
numbered minor planet. Finally, in the third step, it may be named by its discoverers. However, only a small fraction of all minor planets have been named. The vast majority are either numbered or have still only a provisional designation. Example of the naming process: • – provisional designation upon discovery on 24 April 1932 • – formal designation, receives an official number •
1862 Apollo – named minor planet, receives a name, the
alphanumeric code is dropped
Provisional designation A newly discovered minor planet is given a
provisional designation. For example, the provisional designation consists of the year of discovery (2002) and an alphanumeric code indicating the half-month of discovery and the sequence within that half-month. Once an asteroid's orbit has been confirmed, it is given a number, and later may also be given a name (e.g.
433 Eros). The formal naming convention uses parentheses around the number, but dropping the parentheses is quite common. Informally, it is common to drop the number altogether or to drop it after the first mention when a name is repeated in running text. Minor planets that have been given a number but not a name keep their provisional designation, e.g.
(29075) 1950 DA. Because modern discovery techniques are finding vast numbers of new asteroids, they are increasingly being left unnamed. The earliest discovered to be left unnamed was for a long time
(3360) 1981 VA, now
3360 Syrinx. In November 2006 its position as the lowest-numbered unnamed asteroid passed to (now
3708 Socus), and in May 2021 to . On rare occasions, a small object's provisional designation may become used as a name in itself: the then-unnamed gave its "name" to a group of objects that became known as
classical Kuiper belt objects ("cubewanos") before it was finally named
Albion in January 2018. A few objects are cross-listed as both comets and asteroids, such as
4015 Wilson–Harrington, which is also listed as
107P/Wilson–Harrington.
Numbering Minor planets are awarded an official number once their orbits are confirmed. With the increasing rapidity of discovery, these are now six-figure numbers. The switch from five figures to six figures arrived with the publication of the
Minor Planet Circular (MPC) of October 19, 2005, which saw the highest-numbered minor planet jump from 99947 to 118161. The first to be given an entirely non-Classical name was
45 Eugenia, named after Empress
Eugénie de Montijo, the wife of
Napoleon III. For some time only female (or feminized) names were used;
Alexander von Humboldt was the first man to have an asteroid named after him, but his name was feminized to
54 Alexandra. This unspoken tradition lasted until
334 Chicago was named; even then, female names showed up in the list for years after.
Eccentric : As the number of asteroids began to run into the hundreds, and eventually, in the thousands, discoverers began to give them increasingly frivolous names. The first hints of this were
482 Petrina and
483 Seppina, named after the discoverer's pet dogs. However, there was little controversy about this until 1971, upon the naming of
2309 Mr. Spock (the name of the discoverer's cat). Although the
IAU subsequently discouraged the use of pet names as sources, eccentric asteroid names are still being proposed and accepted, such as
4321 Zero,
6042 Cheshirecat,
9007 James Bond,
13579 Allodd and
24680 Alleven, and
26858 Misterrogers.
Discoverer's name : A well-established rule is that, unlike comets, minor planets may not be named after their discoverer(s). One way to circumvent this rule has been for astronomers to exchange the courtesy of naming their discoveries after each other. Rare exceptions to this rule are
1927 Suvanto and
96747 Crespodasilva.
1927 Suvanto was named after its discoverer,
Rafael Suvanto, posthumously by the Minor Planet Center. He died four years after the discovery in the last days of the Finnish
winter war of 1939–40.
96747 Crespodasilva was named after its discoverer,
Lucy d'Escoffier Crespo da Silva, because she died shortly after the discovery, at age 22.
Languages : Names were adapted to various languages from the beginning.
1 Ceres,
Ceres being its Anglo-Latin name, was actually named
Cerere, the Italian form of the name. German, French, Arabic, and Hindi use forms similar to the English, whereas Russian uses a form,
Tserera, similar to the Italian. In Greek, the name was translated to Δήμητρα (
Demeter), the Greek equivalent of the Roman goddess Ceres. In the early years, before it started causing conflicts, asteroids named after Roman figures were generally translated in Greek; other examples are Ἥρα (
Hera) for
3 Juno, Ἑστία (
Hestia) for
4 Vesta, Χλωρίς (
Chloris) for
8 Flora, and Πίστη (
Pistis) for
37 Fides. In Chinese, the names are not given the Chinese forms of the deities they are named after, but rather typically have a syllable or two for the character of the deity or person, followed by 神 'god(dess)' or 女 'woman' if just one syllable, plus 星 'star/planet', so that most asteroid names are written with three Chinese characters. Thus Ceres is 穀神星 'grain goddess planet', Pallas is 智神星 'wisdom goddess planet', etc. == Physical properties of comets and minor planets ==