[meteorite-list] How Do We Name Asteroids?

From: lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu <lebofsky_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2011 14:37:18 -0700
Message-ID: <5768e75718c2b99a6c5f0eb836f5aa83.squirrel_at_webmail.lpl.arizona.edu>

Dan:

Nancy was thrilled when she found out the company that she was in.

5046 Carletonmoore
5048 Moriarty
5049 Sherlock
5050 Doctorwatson
5052 Nancyruth
5053 Chladni
5054 Keil

Larry

> When an asteroid is discovered it is given a provisional name. The
> letter after the year designates the half-moon period within the year
> it was found 'A' would be for the half of january, 'B' for the second
> half and so on. For instance, the "E" in 1981 ES4 indicates it was
> discovered in the first half of march. The second letter plus the
> number denote to order of discovery during that half-month period. So
> for our example above, it was the 118th asteriod observed in that
> two-week period because 4 x 25 (number of letters in the alphabet
> minus "I") + 18 ("S") = 118. An asteroid is only formally named once
> its orbit has been confirmed; it is given a number, according to the
> date when the data on its orbit were determined. Finally, a name can
> be assigned. For example (4) Vesta is the 4th asteroid discovered,
> while 9007 James Bond is the 9,007th asteroid discovered. Although
> there are over 200,000 asteroids with numbers, less then 20,000 have
> been given names. The choice of name is up to the discover; however,
> it is convention that NEOs (near earth objects) are still given
> traditional names whereas main belt asteroids are often named after
> individuals, some of whom may or may not be be famous. Once a name
> has been chosen by the discoverer the International Astronomical Union
> votes to accept and publish the names. Asteroid, have been named
> after musicians, such as 1034 Mozartia and 1815 Beethoven, as well as
> 4147 Lennon, 4148 McArtney, 4149 harrison, and 4150 starr; artists
> including including 6676 monet and 4511 rembrant; writers such as 2985
> shakespeare and 3047 Goethe; scientists such as 697 galilea 662
> newtonia, 8000 Isaac Newton, 1991 darwin and 2001 einstein; plus other
> miscellaneous people such as 4295 McCoy.
>
> Courtesy of Meteorites
>
> Daniel furlan
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Received on Wed 29 Jun 2011 05:37:18 PM PDT