Everything about Minor Planet Names totally explained
Minor planet names, including those of
asteroids and
dwarf planets, are managed by the
Minor Planet Center, a branch of the
IAU. They consist, in their final form, of a number originally assigned in approximate order of discovery, now assigned only after the orbit is determined, coupled with a name, which may be provisional or assigned by its discoverer, with the syntax
(Number) Name, for example
(50000) Quaoar or
(90377) Sedna. The parentheses may be dropped, abridging the designation to
50000 Quaoar or
90377 Sedna, according to the preference of the astronomer or journal. In practice, however, the number is mostly a catalogue entry for any reasonably well-known object, and may be dropped completely.
The convention for satellites of minor planets (e.g
(87) Sylvia I Romulus) is an extension of the
Roman numeral convention that had been used, on and off, for the moons of the planets since
Galileo's time.
Comets are also managed by the
Minor Planet Center, but use
a different cataloguing system.
History
By
1851 there were 15 asteroids, all but one with their own
symbols. These were getting increasingly complex, and, as they'd to be drawn by hand, astronomers found some of them difficult.
This difficulty was addressed by
Benjamin Apthorp Gould in 1851, who suggested numbering them in order of discovery, and writing these numbers in circles instead. This practice was quickly taken up, and rapidly became incorporated into an official designation as the number of minor planets increased.
It was soon (c1858) simplified to the number in parentheses, followed by the name: "
(4) Vesta", with a variant form without parentheses gradually evolving: "
4 Vesta". Other variants, including all forms of the original circled numbers, "
(4)" alone, and "
4, Vesta" had more or less completely died out by 1949.
One exception to the rule that the number lists order of discovery is the case of
Pluto, which being initially seen as a planet wasn't given a number until the 2006 redefinition of "planet" that excluded it. At that point, Pluto was given the formal designation 134340 Pluto.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Minor Planet Names'.
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