Asminor planet discoveries are confirmed, they are given a permanent number by theIAU'sMinor Planet Center (MPC), and the discoverers can then submit names for them, following the IAU'snaming 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 onPaul Herget'sThe 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 thepublic domain: SBDB New namings may only beadded 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]
Václav Hrabě (1940–1965), a Czech poet and writer who was the most important member of the Beat Generation in former Czechoslovakia. In 1965 he interviewed Allen Ginsberg in Prague. His poem Variation on a Renaissance theme, set to music by V. Mišík, became one of the most famous Czech songs.
Jan Kolár (born 1944) started his professional career in satellite remote sensing in 1975. Since the mid-90s he actively participated in the building of the Czech-ESA relations and significantly contributed to the creation of the Czech Space Office.
"Streaky" is the name chosen by Eve Canovan, from Lancaster, UK, as the winner of a national competition to write a story that included an "asteroid" or "asteroids", which was run by the Centre for Life in conjunction withThe TimesEureka Science magazine to enthuse and engage children about space.
Craig Brenden (born 1946), an American teacher of chemistry and an amateur astronomer. A co-founder of theBaton Rouge Astronomical Society, he has served the society as vice-president many times, and was editor of Night Visions (the society newsletter) for thirty years.
Christian Marois (born 1974), René Doyon (born 1963) and David Lafrenière (born 1978) developed instruments that allowed seeing an extrasolar planetary system. Doyon was director of the Mt. Mégantic Observatory; Marois and Lafrenière were postdoctoral fellows at the Herzberg Institute and the University of Toronto
Frederick C. Gillett (1937–2001), an American pioneer in infrared astronomy, who was the discoverer of the infrared excess of Vega in 1983 using the Infrared Astronomy Satellite. TheGemini North 8-meter Telescope was renamed the Frederick C. Gillett Gemini Telescope in his honor on November 18, 2002.
The Telescopes In Education (TIE) project makes it possible for many students around the world remotely to use telescopes at Mt. Wilson and Las Campanas, Chile. This is an innovative way to introduce astronomy to young people, among whom it has already developed intense interest (Src).
Rudolf Pešek (1905–1989) founded the Czech school of aerodynamic engineering. An enthusiastic supporter and popularizer of spaceflight, he became an active member of the International Astronautical Federation and the International Academy of Astronautics. He invented the famous abbreviation CETI, now SETI
Marco Iten (born 1950), a Swiss goldsmith and a skilled model train hobbyist fromGordola. He is also an amateur astronomer who observesasteroidal occultations and meteoroid impacts on the Moon.
Jill Tarter (born 1944), an American radio-astronomer who searches for extraterrestrial intelligence at theSETI Institute using radio telescopes while holding the Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI. Her career inspired Carl Sagan to write the novelContact. She has also encouraged thousands to assist SETI discovery using their home computers.