As minor planet discoveries are confirmed, they are given a permanent number by the IAU's Minor Planet Center (MPC), and the discoverers can then submit names for them, following the IAU's naming conventions. The list below concerns those minor planets in the specified number-range that have received names, and explains the meanings of those names.
Based on Paul Herget's The Names of the Minor Planets,[6] Schmadel also researched the unclear origin of numerous asteroids, most of which had been named prior to World War II. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain: SBDB New namings may only be added to this list below after official publication as the preannouncement of names is condemned.[7] The WGSBN publishes a comprehensive guideline for the naming rules of non-cometary small Solar System bodies.[8]
Francesc Vicent (1450–1512), Spanish author of Libre dels jochs partits dels schacs en nombre de 100 which established the modern rules of Chess in Spain
Bhārat Gaṇarājya is the native name of the Republic of India, derived from the wise and pious King Bharata of ancient Hindu mythology. India is the discoverer's motherland.
Linda Dimare (born 1981), a researcher in celestial mechanics, mainly involved in the development of new algorithms and software for solar system dynamics.
Stefano Cicalò (born 1982) is a researcher in celestial mechanics, mainly involved in the development of new advanced algorithms and software for the complex dynamics of the radio science experiment of the ESA Bepi Colombo Mission to Mercury and the NASA JUNO mission to Jupiter.
Sara Salimbeni (born 1977), an Italian astronomer who has obtained her degree in physics at "La Sapienza" University of Rome in 2003, with a thesis on the cosmological evolution of the deep field galaxy luminosity function. As a Ph.D. student at the University of Rome at Tor Vergata, she is continuing her studies of galaxies and structures evolution.
Leon Mow (1919–2002) was an Australian philanthropist with a great interest in astronomy. In 1990 he donated the Leon Mow Dark Sky Site (an observation site) to the Astronomical Society of Victoria (ASV), so that others could share in his passion. The ASV holds a number of public star parties there each year.
Fabrizio Capaccioni (born 1957), an Italian astronomer who has studied the electromagnetic effects associated with impact craterization. He currently works on planetary research, with an emphasis on the study of the surface composition of solar-system bodies by means of reflectance spectroscopy techniques.
Priscilla Cerroni (born 1955), an Italian astronomer who works on experiments involving hypervelocity impacts and implications for the study of catastrophic collisions involving minor planets. She is currently a researcher at the Italian INAF-IASF and a team member of VIMS, the imaging spectrometer on board the Cassini mission.
Elisa Maria Alessi (born 1981) has worked for several years in the fields of space debris dynamics, orbit determination for interplanetary missions, and trajectory design in planet-satellite systems.
Federica Spoto (born 1985) has worked in the field of Solar System dynamics. In particular, she is involved in the Impact Monitoring computation and research at NEODyS and AstDyS.
German Aerospace Center (German: Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; also known as "DLR"), is Germany's national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research. It was formed in 1969.
Bodo Baschek (born 1935), is a German astrophysicist is professor emeritus of the Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics at the Ruprecht Karls University of Heidelberg. He contributed to the field of radiation transport with the continuation of Albrecht Unsöld's work. His book The New Cosmos is standard literature for astronomy students.
Helen R. Sailer (1918–2019), member of the international women's flying organization, The Ninety-Nines, and great-aunt of the discoverer Robert D. Matson (Src, Src)
The NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is managed by the California Institute of Technology. JPL is the hub of U.S. uncrewed spacecraft solar system exploration, with visits to the sun, eight planets and their satellites, four minor planets and two comets. It has also established a permanent presence around Mars.
Donald Pettit (born 1955), American astronaut who flew on STS-113 to the International Space Station, where he spent over 5{frac|1|2} months as science officer on Expedition 6. An avid amateur astronomer, Pettit recorded dozens of astrophotographs from ISS, most notably numerous 30-second and 60-second exposures of 4 Vesta.
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey, an astronomical survey conducted in New Mexico, that uses a dedicated 2.5-meter telescope to image more than a quarter of the celestial sphere. It has catalogued over 300 million objects and obtained spectra of over a million galaxies, quasars and stars.
Simona Di Rubbo (born 1987) has been interested in astronomy since her childhood. She graduated in Aerospace Engineering in 2013 from the Polytechnic of Turin, Italy. In 2015 she joined the amateur astronomy association in the town of Benevento. Name proposed by A. Boattini and M. Tombelli.
Matthew Isakowitz (1987–2017), an American aerospace engineer and contributor to the field of commercial spaceflight, known for the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, XPRIZE, and several newspace companies (obituary).
