X-Nico

3 unusual facts about Minor planet


Astrolog

Astrolog computes the traditional planets, along with minor planetary objects such as Ceres, Juno and Vesta, and uranian objects such as Vulkanus and Russian Proserpina.

Minor planet

The first asteroid to be given a non-mythological name was 20 Massalia, named after the Greek name for the city of Marseilles.

Rocky Jones, Space Ranger

Rocky and his crew would routinely blast-off in a V-2-like chemically-fueled, upright rocketship, the Orbit Jet XV-2, or later the nearly identical Silver Moon XV-3, on missions to moons and planetoids where the odds of success seemed remote yet they would always prevail.


1010 Marlene

It was later named after Marlene Dietrich, with the 1010 identifier indicating the order of the minor planet discovery.

11333 Forman

11333 Forman is a minor planet that was discovered on April 20, 1996 by Petr Pravec and Lenka Šarounová at Ondřejov Observatory.

17059 Elvis

17059 Elvis is a minor planet that was discovered by John Broughton on April 15, 1999.

530 Turandot

530 Turandot is a minor planet orbiting the Sun that was discovered by German astronomer Max Wolf on April 11, 1904 and named for the title character in Puccini's opera.

5332 Davidaguilar

5332 Davidaguilar (provisional designation: 1990 DA) is an Amor-class minor planet.

96189 Pygmalion

96189 Pygmalion (provisional designation: 1991 NT3) is an Amor-type near-Earth minor planet.

Anton Thraen

Anton Karl Thraen (17 January 1843 in Holungen – 18 February 1902 in Dingelstädt) was a German astronomer and named two minor planets, 442 Eichsfeldia and 443 Photographica.

Battle of Kulikovo

A minor planet, 2869 Nepryadva, discovered in 1980 by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh, was named in honor of the Russian victory over the Tataro-Mongols.

Five-Year Plans for the National Economy of the Soviet Union

The minor planet 2122 Pyatiletka discovered in 1971 by Soviet astronomer Tamara Mikhailovna Smirnova is named in honor of Five-Year Plans of the USSR.

Hiroshi Fujioka

Fujioka is a cultural icon in Japan, even having the minor planet 12408 Fujioka, discovered by Akimasa Nakamura, named in his honor.

Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic

A minor planet 2577 Litva discovered in 1975 by a Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh is named after the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Martin Andersen Nexø

A minor planet, 3535 Ditte, discovered by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh in 1979, is named after the main character in his novel Ditte, Child of Man.

Mesoplanet

Asimov noted that the Solar System has a large number of planetary bodies (as opposed to the Sun and natural satellites) and stated that lines dividing "major planets" from minor planets were necessarily arbitrary.

Mount Aldaz

Not only does Aldaz have a mountain named in association with him, but he also has a main-belt minor planet named in his honor, 13004 Aldaz (provisional designation: 1982 RR), discovered by Edward L. G. Bowell at the Anderson Mesa Station in Coconino County, Arizona, on September 15, 1982.

Pavel Tretyakov

A minor planet 3925 Tret'yakov, discovered by Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Zhuravlyova in 1977 is named after Pavel Tretyakov and his brother Sergei Mikhailovich Tretyakov (1824–1892).

Stephen J. Edberg

For his long commitment in bringing amateur and professional astronomers together, Minor planet 3672 Stevedberg (1985 QQ) was named in honor of Stephen J. Edberg in 1987.

Tyumen Oblast

A minor planet 2120 Tyumenia discovered in 1967 by Soviet astronomer Tamara Mikhailovna Smirnova is named after Tyumen Oblast.

Uncertainty Parameter U

In order to quantify the uncertainty in a perturbed orbital solution for a minor planet in a concise fashion, the Minor Planet Center (MPC) has introduced the U parameter.


see also

15092 Beegees

The members of the British pop-rock-disco group Bee Gees: Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, and Maurice Gibb and their younger brother, singer Andy Gibb that was never a member of the group, were raised in Australia only 100 km from the discovery site of this minor planet.

21751 Jennytaylor

This minor planet was discovered September 9, 1999, by the LINEAR program of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory.

22732 Jakpor

Otana was also a finalist in the 2010 Intel Science Talent Search (for which another minor planet was named in honor of her advisor 26250 Shaneludwig).

4305 Clapton

Minor Planet 4305 is named 4305 Clapton to honor Eric Clapton.

4442 Garcia

Minor Planet 4442 is named 4442 Garcia to honor Jerry Garcia, frontman of the Grateful Dead.

Cernan

12790 Cernan, A minor planet named for astronaut Eugene Cernan

David J. Eicher

Eicher’s service to the astronomy world was recognized in 1990 when the International Astronomical Union named minor planet 3617 Eicher (discovery designation = 1984 LJ) in his honor.

Gotha Observatory

The minor planet 1346 Gotha was named after the city of Gotha in recognition of the observatory.

John L. Climenhaga

On his 70th birthday in 1987, he was honoured by the International Astrophysical Union when it assigned the name Climenhaga to an eight-kilometre asteroid (Minor Planet 3034 Climenhaga), which orbits the sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

John Robert de Laeter

He also had a minor planet, 3893 DeLaeter, named after him in recognition for his support of the Perth Observatory.

Kathryn Whaler

Lecture, and the naming of a minor planet(asteroid)(5914 Kathywhaler) after her.

Malcolm Hartley

The asteroid 4768 Hartley (1988 PH1) was named in his honour, being deputy astronomer of the U.K. Schmidt telescope at Siding Spring, with which this minor planet was discovered.

Minggatu

On May 26, 2002, the minor planet 28242 was named after Minggatu as 28242 Mingantu.

P/1997 B1

On January 30 and January 31, 1997, Takao Kobayashi observed an object, P/1997 B1 (Kobayashi), which was initially thought to be a minor planet and was reported to the IAU as such by S. Nakano.

Palomar–Leiden survey

As each minor planet was discovered, the orbital elements were computed at the Cincinnati Observatory.

Rauracia

113415 Rauracia, a minor planet discovered at the Jurassien-Vicques Observatory

Reseda

1081 Reseda, a minor planet that orbits the Sun; named for the reseda plant genus

Robert Curry Cameron

On April 20, 1950, he discovered the minor planet (1575) Winifred at Brooklyn, Indiana.

Science and technology in South Africa

Minor planet 5038 Overbeek, discovered May 31, 1948, is named after South African astronomer Michiel Daniel Overbeek.

Shunsuke

29986 Shunsuke, a minor planet named after the footballer Shunsuke Nakamura.