Meanings of minor planet names: 278001–279000
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.
Official naming citations of newly named small Solar System bodies are approved and published in a bulletin by IAU's Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN).[1] Before May 2021, citations were published in MPC's Minor Planet Circulars for many decades.[2] Recent citations can also be found on the JPL Small-Body Database (SBDB).[3] Until his death in 2016, German astronomer Lutz D. Schmadel compiled these citations into the Dictionary of Minor Planet Names (DMP) and regularly updated the collection.[4][5]
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]
278001–278100
[edit]
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| There are no named minor planets in this number range | |||
278101–278200
[edit]
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 278141 Tatooine | 2007 CS61 | Tatooine is a desert planet in the fictional Star Wars universe. It is the home planet of Anakin and Luke Skywalker. | JPL · 278141 |
| 278197 Touvron | 2007 EL12 | Guy Touvron (born 1950), a French Classical trumpet player and music teacher | JPL · 278197 |
| 278200 Olegpopov | 2007 EV26 | Oleg Popov (1930–2016), a famous Russian circus artist | JPL · 278200 |
278201–278300
[edit]
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 278225 Didierpelat | 2007 EY87 | Didier Pelat (born 1948) is an astronomer at Paris Observatory, who has worked on spectroscopy and modelling of active galactic nuclei, hydrodynamics of accretion disks and stellar populations synthesis. He has also designed an iterative Bracewell interferometer extending the nulling effect to a large bandwidth. | JPL · 278225 |
278301–278400
[edit]
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 278384 Mudanjiang | 2007 MV20 | The Chinese city of Mudanjiang, located in the country's northernmost province of Heilongjiang | JPL · 278384 |
| 278386 Sofivanna | 2007 NK2 | Twins Sofia and Ivanna (born 2007) are the grandchildren of Boris Romanyuk, Professor at the V. Ye. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. | JPL · 278386 |
278401–278500
[edit]
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 278447 Saviano | 2007 TH | Roberto Saviano (born 1979), an Italian journalist, writer and essayist | JPL · 278447 |
278501–278600
[edit]
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 278513 Schwope | 2008 CE120 | Axel Schwope (born 1959), a German astronomer at the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics in Potsdam | JPL · 278513 |
| 278591 Salò | 2008 NZ3 | The historic town of Salò on the western bank of Lake Garda in northern Italy | JPL · 278591 |
278601–278700
[edit]
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 278609 Avrudenko | 2008 PP17 | Anatoliy Viktorovych Rudenko (born 1955), a Ukrainian scientist and surgeon | JPL · 278609 |
| 278645 Kontsevych | 2008 RQ22 | Yevgen Vasylyovych Kontsevych (1935–2010) was a Ukrainian novelist and short story writer. In his works he often compared people's relationships with the behavior of birds and wild animals, preferring communication with the latter, rather than with the deceptive and treacherous-by-nature humans. | JPL · 278645 |
278701–278800
[edit]
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 278735 Kamioka | 2008 SG83 | The Kamioka Observatory, Institute for Cosmic Ray Research is a neutrino physics laboratory located underground of the city of Hida in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. | JPL · 278735 |
278801–278900
[edit]
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| There are no named minor planets in this number range | |||
278901–279000
[edit]
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 278956 Shei-Pa | 2008 UZ83 | Shei-Pa National Park is located in the central part of Taiwan around the peaks of Hsuehshan and Dabajian Mountain, with an area of 76,850 hectares. There are 51 peaks over 3,000 meters high. | JPL · 278956 |
| 278986 Chenshuchu | 2008 UQ205 | Chen Shu-chu, a vegetable vendor and philanthropist from Taitung in Eastern Taiwan | JPL · 278986 |
References
[edit]- ^ "WGSBN Bulletin Archive". Working Group Small Body Nomenclature. 14 May 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
- ^ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
- ^ "JPL – Solar System Dynamics: Discovery Circumstances". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
- ^ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
- ^ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2006). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – Addendum to Fifth Edition: 2003–2005. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. ISBN 978-3-540-34360-8. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
- ^ Herget, Paul (1968). The Names of the Minor Planets. Cincinnati, Ohio: Minor Planet Center, Cincinnati Observatory. OCLC 224288991.
- ^ "Guide to Minor Body Astrometry – When can I name my discovery?". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
- ^ "Minor Planet Naming Guidelines (Rules and Guidelines for naming non-cometary small Solar-System bodies) – v1.0" (PDF). Working Group Small Body Nomenclature (PDF). 20 December 2021.