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It was named for the great scientist and explorer Alexander Humboldt. In fact, the first asteroid to be named for a man was number 54. When people began using non-mythological names, they kept up the tradition of using female names. The next several asteroids were also named after classical goddesses. However Ceres was acceptable and as the first asteroid to be discovered, its official name is now (1) Ceres. But even Piazzi’s supporters thought his name was too long, not to mention political. A group of German astronomers was calling it Hera (Zeus's wife), which rather annoyed Piazzi. The rest of the world could have ignored Piazzi’s choice. Ceres was the patron goddess of Sicily and Ferdinand was the king of Sicily, Piazzi’s patron. Piazzi, who worked at an observatory in Sicily, called his discovery Ceres Ferdinandea. Yet to get a name accepted, the discoverers needed to convince the wider community. Way back in Piazzi’s day, there was no IAU. The present designation and naming system evolved during the twentieth century. Although comets are named for their discoverers, those who discover asteroids may not name them after themselves. There is also one other rule, one which I find slightly odd. For example, the asteroids that share Jupiter’s orbit are called Trojans, and those that are named individually are named for heroes of the Trojan War. There are further restrictions on names for asteroids outside the main belt. Obviously, the name mustn’t be offensive, and an asteroid can’t be named for people known primarily for politics or military activity until they’ve been dead for 100 years. In addition, names of commercial enterprises aren’t accepted. There are some limitations on acceptable names, relating to length and presentation. When the orbit of 1999 RQ36 was confirmed, it got the number 101955 and then became known as (101955) 1999 RQ36. If it doesn’t get a name, it keeps the provisional designation. Once the asteroid has a number, the discoverer gets ten years to propose a name if wanted. Ceres is number 1, but recent discoveries need six-digit numbers. Asteroid numbers are sequential, beginning with the very first discovery made by Giuseppe Piazzi in 1801. Only when the orbit of the new object is confirmed does the Center give it a number.
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The first part is the year, and the rest is a code showing the half-month period of the discovery and the new asteroid’s place in the order of discoveries for that period. When a new asteroid is reported to the Minor Planet Center, it gets a provisional designation, for example, 1999 RQ36. It is fraud if a company suggests that a name you register will get official recognition. Most of discoveries will not get names.īy the way, despite what you might see on the internet, you can’t buy the right to name an asteroid – or any other heavenly body. Projects of this sort have found asteroids in such large numbers that the CSBN has limited the number of names any group or individual can submit to no more than two every two months. The danger of asteroids colliding with the Earth has prompted the use of robotic telescopes to hunt for them. Secondly, only about 5% of the cataloged asteroids have names. It just has to approve proposed names, taking care that they are within the guidelines. First of all, the group doesn’t name the bodies. It’s responsible for asteroid names, so it’s pretty busy, though not as busy as you might think.
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The IAU has a working group called the Committee on Small Body Nomenclature (CSBN). That’s not surprising since the Minor Planet Center of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has over half a million asteroids in its catalog. More people have named asteroids than any other type of celestial body. Header image: What are asteroids made of - montage by Emily Lakdawalla