Talk:List of minor planets

Different sources give different names of several asteroids

• Asteroid 7214 1973 SM1, some sources give the name as Anticlus, while others give as Antielus.
• Asteroid 8932 1997 AR4, some sources give the name as Nagatomo, while others give as Nagamoto.
• Asteroid 11264 1979 UC4, some sources give the name as Claudiomaccone, while others give as Claudimaccone.
• Asteroid 14428 1991 VM12, some sources give the name as Laziridis, while others give as Lazaridis.
• Asteroid 20495 1999 PW4, some sources give the name as Rimanska Sobota, while others give as Rimavska Sobota.

Which ones are the correct names? -- Yaohua2000 04:35, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

I did some additional research on asteroid 8932. JPL Horizons and [1] gives a name of Nagatomo, but [2] gives Nagamoto. I don't speak Japanese, but I can read some according to my Chinese knowledge. After some research on Google, I found the corresponding Japanese name of Nagatomo or Nagamoto is 長友信人[3], the asteroid was discoverred by 小林隆男. I googled the keyword "長友信人" "Nagatomo" and get 31 results, while "長友信人" "Nagamoto" get only 3 results. So I think the correct translation might be Nagatomo. -- Yaohua2000 05:33, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

Once a while an asteroid may be renamed. The MPC link is always up to date.--Jyril 10:18, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

Did these ever get resolved, after 14 years? I mean, the best way is to probably figure out who or what they were named for, and see if there's a consensus spelling for its/their name. Some of them are probably transcription errors between different alphabets and the like, mis-readings of unclear text, or just plain typos... 146.199.60.87 (talk) 21:13, 12 August 2019 (UTC)

I am unaware if they were resolved yet, but I assume the name differences could be mis translation or typo. I think the best course of action would be to put both names, such as: "Anticlus, also known as Antielus"

Let me know if that works, or if we can find an alternate solution --Caez (any pronouns c:) (talk) 16:02, 11 November 2022 (UTC)

I have just looked, no names are listed on this page, so this conversation is either out of date, irrelevant, or both. --Caez (any pronouns c:) (talk) 16:03, 11 November 2022 (UTC)

The page seems to have been split from the very beginning, so that this was presumably being used as a centralised talk page. Regardless, the name issues are resolved: the MPC is the authority. Double sharp (talk) 05:03, 13 July 2024 (UTC)

Dubious diameters and broken links

A lot of the diameters listed in the tables look dubious to me; some are wrong by 1-2 orders of magnitude. To give just one example, 470430 is given a diameter of 24 km, which at the absolute magnitude (H=16.83) given by JPL[4] would require an albedo of 0.0006 (which is unphysical). Where do these diameters come from, who calculated the ones that aren't direct measurements, and who is going to correct the 700,000 entries that would need to be checked?

Also, why do the MPC links[5] on all of these entries (created with Template:M+J) lead to a blank page when I click on them using Firefox, but they work okay with Chrome? Renerpho (talk) 22:07, 12 July 2024 (UTC)

In the case of 470430, the diameter was changed from 2.7 km to 24 km by the article creator Rfassbind (inactive since 2022) on 22 January 2019.[6] Renerpho (talk) 22:13, 12 July 2024 (UTC)

 Fixed. This is a very strange/rare case/mistake, and actually the only one I've ever seen on the LoMPs from Rfassbind, so I'd consider it a 1-off. Regardless, I'll be making my way down methodically from the 700k's with updated orbital & observational parameters, family memberships, discovery circumstances, etc. for the foreseeable future.   ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf)  00:02, 3 August 2024 (UTC)

@Tom.Reding: Thank you. Are you aware that the information about discovery date and site is incorrect for many asteroids? I'd estimate about 5% of all asteroids are affected by this. For example, compare List of minor planets: 269001–270000#632 (2011 AK34 - October 24, 2005 - Mauna Kea - A. Boattini) to what's said in [7] (2011 AK34 - Discovered at Kitt Peak on 2003-09-29 by Spacewatch). Renerpho (talk) 03:13, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Yes. At least once per month, the MPC updates its records here. For example, see Errata & Corrected Discovery Information sections in the latest bulletin. These corrections slowly add up over time, which is why the LoMPs & MoMPs require periodic updating. Fun fact: even some of their errata have errata.   ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf)  10:53, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Wikilinks to discovery sites stopped @ 470k

List of minor planets: 469001–470000 is the highest list with linked discovery sites. I'm not sure why that practice stopped, but the precedence is clearly to link them in a manner similar to List of minor planets: 1–1000. If no one objects, I'll try to start doing that, starting with the next big batch (720k) & eventually work my way down.   ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf)  17:50, 15 August 2024 (UTC)

I have no objections. Renerpho (talk) 03:06, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Should the list be extended?

Currently, the last planet in the last list is 2023 GQ₅. I believe it should be extended as more minor planets have been discovered. HAt 10:57, 21 September 2024 (UTC)

720000 is the last numbered minor planet, as of the time of writing. It was numbered in the most recent batch of MPC's in on July 14 this year. You'll have to wait till the Minor Planet Center numbers more. Double sharp (talk) 11:24, 21 September 2024 (UTC)