Meanings of minor-planet names

This is a list of minor planets which have been officially named by the Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN) of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). The list consists of partial pages, each covering a number range of 1,000 bodies citing the source after each minor planet was named for. An overview of all existing partial pages is given in section § Index.

Among the hundreds of thousands of numbered minor planets only a small fraction have received a name so far. As of 10 June 2024, there are 24,795 named minor planets out of a total of more than 600,000 numbered ones (also see List of minor planets § Main index as numbers increase constantly). Most of these bodies are named for people, in particular astronomers, as well as figures from mythology and fiction. Many minor planets are also named after places such cities, towns, and villages, mountains and volcanoes; after rivers, observatories, as well as organizations, clubs and astronomical societies. Some are named after animals and plants. A few minor planets are named after exotic entities such as supercomputers or have an unknown origin.

The first few thousand minor planets have all been named, with the near-Earth asteroid (4596) 1981 QB currently being the lowest-numbered unnamed minor planet. The first 3 pages in the below table contain 1,000 named entries each. The first 13 and 33 pages contain at least 500 and 100 named entries each, respectively. The first range to contain no entries is 307001–308000. There are also several name conflicts with other astronomical objects, mostly with planetary satellites and among themselves.

Following a proposal of the discovering astronomer, new minor planet names are approved and published by IAU's WGSBN several times a year. The WGSBN applies a set of rules for naming minor planets. These range from syntax restrictions to non-offensive meanings. Over the years the rules have changed several times. In the beginning, for example, most minor planets were named after female characters from Greek and Roman mythology.

Index

"MOMP" redirects here. For other uses, see MOMP (disambiguation).

This is an overview of all existing partial lists on the meanings of minor planets (MoMP). Each table covers 100,000 minor planets, with each cell representing a specific partial list of 1,000 sequentially numbered bodies. Grayed out cells do not yet contain any citations for the corresponding number range. For an introduction, see § top.

Meanings from 1 to 100,000

1–1000	1,001	2,001	3,001	4,001	5,001	6,001	7,001	8,001	9,001
10,001	11,001	12,001	13,001	14,001	15,001	16,001	17,001	18,001	19,001
20,001	21,001	22,001	23,001	24,001	25,001	26,001	27,001	28,001	29,001
30,001	31,001	32,001	33,001	34,001	35,001	36,001	37,001	38,001	39,001
40,001	41,001	42,001	43,001	44,001	45,001	46,001	47,001	48,001	49,001
50,001	51,001	52,001	53,001	54,001	55,001	56,001	57,001	58,001	59,001
60,001	61,001	62,001	63,001	64,001	65,001	66,001	67,001	68,001	69,001
70,001	71,001	72,001	73,001	74,001	75,001	76,001	77,001	78,001	79,001
80,001	81,001	82,001	83,001	84,001	85,001	86,001	87,001	88,001	89,001
90,001	91,001	92,001	93,001	94,001	95,001	96,001	97,001	98,001	99,001

Meanings from 100,001 to 200,000

100,001	101,001	102,001	103,001	104,001	105,001	106,001	107,001	108,001	109,001
110,001	111,001	112,001	113,001	114,001	115,001	116,001	117,001	118,001	119,001
120,001	121,001	122,001	123,001	124,001	125,001	126,001	127,001	128,001	129,001
130,001	131,001	132,001	133,001	134,001	135,001	136,001	137,001	138,001	139,001
140,001	141,001	142,001	143,001	144,001	145,001	146,001	147,001	148,001	149,001
150,001	151,001	152,001	153,001	154,001	155,001	156,001	157,001	158,001	159,001
160,001	161,001	162,001	163,001	164,001	165,001	166,001	167,001	168,001	169,001
170,001	171,001	172,001	173,001	174,001	175,001	176,001	177,001	178,001	179,001
180,001	181,001	182,001	183,001	184,001	185,001	186,001	187,001	188,001	189,001
190,001	191,001	192,001	193,001	194,001	195,001	196,001	197,001	198,001	199,001

Meanings from 200,001 to 300,000

200,001	201,001	202,001	203,001	204,001	205,001	206,001	207,001	208,001	209,001
210,001	211,001	212,001	213,001	214,001	215,001	216,001	217,001	218,001	219,001
220,001	221,001	222,001	223,001	224,001	225,001	226,001	227,001	228,001	229,001
230,001	231,001	232,001	233,001	234,001	235,001	236,001	237,001	238,001	239,001
240,001	241,001	242,001	243,001	244,001	245,001	246,001	247,001	248,001	249,001
250,001	251,001	252,001	253,001	254,001	255,001	256,001	257,001	258,001	259,001
260,001	261,001	262,001	263,001	264,001	265,001	266,001	267,001	268,001	269,001
270,001	271,001	272,001	273,001	274,001	275,001	276,001	277,001	278,001	279,001
280,001	281,001	282,001	283,001	284,001	285,001	286,001	287,001	288,001	289,001
290,001	291,001	292,001	293,001	294,001	295,001	296,001	297,001	298,001	299,001

Meanings from 300,001 to 400,000

300,001	301,001	302,001	303,001	304,001	305,001	306,001	307,001	308,001	309,001
310,001	311,001	312,001	313,001	314,001	315,001	316,001	317,001	318,001	319,001
320,001	321,001	322,001	323,001	324,001	325,001	326,001	327,001	328,001	329,001
330,001	331,001	332,001	333,001	334,001	335,001	336,001	337,001	338,001	339,001
340,001	341,001	342,001	343,001	344,001	345,001	346,001	347,001	348,001	349,001
350,001	351,001	352,001	353,001	354,001	355,001	356,001	357,001	358,001	359,001
360,001	361,001	362,001	363,001	364,001	365,001	366,001	367,001	368,001	369,001
370,001	371,001	372,001	373,001	374,001	375,001	376,001	377,001	378,001	379,001
380,001	381,001	382,001	383,001	384,001	385,001	386,001	387,001	388,001	389,001
390,001	391,001	392,001	393,001	394,001	395,001	396,001	397,001	398,001	399,001

Meanings from 400,001 to 500,000

400,001	401,001	402,001	403,001	404,001	405,001	406,001	407,001	408,001	409,001
410,001	411,001	412,001	413,001	414,001	415,001	416,001	417,001	418,001	419,001
420,001	421,001	422,001	423,001	424,001	425,001	426,001	427,001	428,001	429,001
430,001	431,001	432,001	433,001	434,001	435,001	436,001	437,001	438,001	439,001
440,001	441,001	442,001	443,001	444,001	445,001	446,001	447,001	448,001	449,001
450,001	451,001	452,001	453,001	454,001	455,001	456,001	457,001	458,001	459,001
460,001	461,001	462,001	463,001	464,001	465,001	466,001	467,001	468,001	469,001
470,001	471,001	472,001	473,001	474,001	475,001	476,001	477,001	478,001	479,001
480,001	481,001	482,001	483,001	484,001	485,001	486,001	487,001	488,001	489,001
490,001	491,001	492,001	493,001	494,001	495,001	496,001	497,001	498,001	499,001

Meanings from 500,001 to 600,000

500,001	501,001	502,001	503,001	504,001	505,001	506,001	507,001	508,001	509,001
510,001	511,001	512,001	513,001	514,001	515,001	516,001	517,001	518,001	519,001
520,001	521,001	522,001	523,001	524,001	525,001	526,001	527,001	528,001	529,001
530,001	531,001	532,001	533,001	534,001	535,001	536,001	537,001	538,001	539,001
540,001	541,001	542,001	543,001	544,001	545,001	546,001	547,001	548,001	549,001
550,001	551,001	552,001	553,001	554,001	555,001	556,001	557,001	558,001	559,001
560,001	561,001	562,001	563,001	564,001	565,001	566,001	567,001	568,001	569,001
570,001	571,001	572,001	573,001	574,001	575,001	576,001	577,001	578,001	579,001
580,001	581,001	582,001	583,001	584,001	585,001	586,001	587,001	588,001	589,001
590,001	591,001	592,001	593,001	594,001	595,001	596,001	597,001	598,001	599,001

Meanings from 600,001 to 700,000

600,001	601,001	602,001	603,001	604,001	605,001	606,001	607,001	608,001	609,001
610,001	611,001	612,001	613,001	614,001	615,001	616,001	617,001	618,001	619,001
620,001	621,001	622,001	623,001	624,001	625,001	626,001	627,001	628,001	629,001
630,001	631,001	632,001	633,001	634,001	635,001	636,001	637,001	638,001	639,001
640,001	641,001	642,001	643,001	644,001	645,001	646,001	647,001	648,001	649,001
650,001	651,001	652,001	653,001	654,001	655,001	656,001	657,001	658,001	659,001
660,001	661,001	662,001	663,001	664,001	665,001	666,001	667,001	668,001	669,001
670,001	671,001	672,001	673,001	674,001	675,001	676,001	677,001	678,001	679,001
680,001	681,001	682,001	683,001	684,001	685,001	686,001	687,001	688,001	689,001
690,001	691,001	692,001	693,001	694,001	695,001	696,001	697,001	698,001	699,001

See also

• List of minor planets
• List of named minor planets (alphabetical)

External links

• Asteroids discovered at the observatory of San Marcello Pistoiese in Italy
• Asteroids discovered by Uppsala astronomers
• Asteroids honoring people associated with Cornell Department of astronomy
• Asteroids named after members of staff and graduates of the Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland
• Asteroids with Canadian Connections
• Asteroids with a Hamburg connection (in German)
• Hungarian asteroids
• In Our Skies journalistic article on asteroid nomenclature
• Institute of Applied Astronomy's list of (accented) names
• Kleť Numbered Minor Planets
• List of "Dutch" asteroids (in Dutch)
• Planetary Society asteroids
• The Ceres Connection (asteroids named after students)

Some systematic sources of citations are:

• The database of the Minor Planet Center can be searched: http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/
• The JPL Small-Body Database Browser: http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi
• The Minor Planet Center has lists of discovery circumstances for numbered minor planets which link to a script at the Harvard University Center for Astronomy MPES (Minor Planet Ephemeris Service) that displays citations.
• The Minor Planet Center also provides a search engine allowing a search of its database from your browser.

In the first two cases you need only modify the last argument of the address to the name or number of the minor planet. The lists of discovery circumstances are split into groups of 5000 minor planets, each containing links for individual named minor planets that access the script displaying citations.