Asteroid Naming Guidelines
What's in a Name?
Contest Status
We have a winner! Visit the contest home page for details.When an asteroid is first discovered, it is given a provisional designation like "1999 RQ36." The first four digits tell you what year it was discovered. The last four characters tell you when in that year it was discovered. 1999 RQ36 was the 916th object observed in the first half of September, 1999.
Once the asteroid's orbit is precisely known, it is issued an official sequential number. 1999 RQ36 was the 101,955th asteroid to receive a number, so it is now formally known as 101955. Only about 5% of numbered asteroids have been given names.
When asteroids are discovered, they are initially named with numbers and letters encoding when they were first spotted. The Minor Planet Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory gives them these alphanumeric codes.
The asteroid's discoverer can propose to the International Astronomical Union to give the asteroid a formal name. The International Astronomical Union has established rules to guide the selection of names for objects located in different parts of the solar system. Here are the guidelines for naming (101955) 1999 RQ36:
Proposed names must be:
- no more than 16 characters long (including any spaces or punctuation);
- preferably one word;
- pronounceable (in some language);
- written using Latin characters (transliterations of names from languages not written using Latin characters are acceptable);
- non-offensive;
- not identical with or even too similar to an existing name of a minor planet or natural planetary satellite.
In addition, because (101955) 1999 RQ36 is a near-Earth object, its name should be from mythology, but the name should not be one associated with creation or underworld themes because those themes are used for other types of bodies in the solar system. The mythological name can come from any culture from any part of the world. In very rare cases, this definition has been stretched to include fictional mythological characters. There are some exceptions to these rules, and entries of names that are not mythological will not be disqualified. However, the International Astronomical Union is likelier to approve a name that is from mythology than one that is not.
Below is a list of the named near-Earth objects as of August 16, 2012. Follow this link for a complete listing of all named minor planets.
| Abhramu Aditi Adonis Ahau Akka Albert Alinda Almeria Amor Amun Anteros Antinous Anza Apollo Apophis Aristaeus Asclepius Aten Atira Baboquivari Bacchus Bede Belenus Beltrovata Beowulf Betulia Bivoj Blume Boreas Brucemurray Cacus Cadmus Camarillo Camillo Castalia Cerberus |
Cleobulus Cruithne Cuno Cuyo Daedalus Davidaguilar Davidharvey Didymos Dionysus Doloreshill Don Quixote Eger Epona Eric Eros ESA Florence Ganymed Geographos Golevka Gordonmoore Hathor Hephaistos Heracles Hermes Hypnos Icarus Illapa Ishtar Itokawa Ivar Izhdubar Jason Jasonwheeler Kadlu Khufu |
Konnohmaru Krok Kwiila Lucianotesi Lugh Lyapunov Magellan Masaakikoyama McAuliffe Mera Midas Minos Mithra Miwablock Mjolnir Nefertiti Nereus Ninkasi Norwan Nut Nyx Ogmios Oljato Ondaatje Orpheus Orthos Oze Pan Pele Peleus Phaethon Pocahontas Poseidon Ptah Pygmalion Quetzalcoatl |
Ra-Shalom Rees Rhiannon Robwhiteley Saunders Sekhmet Seleucus Selqet Seneca Sigurd Sisyphus Summanus Syrinx Talos Tanith Tantalus Tara Taranis Tezcatlipoca Tjelvar Tomaiyowit Toro Toutatis Tukmit Ubasti Ul Verenia Vinciguerra Vishnu Wilson-Harrington Xanthus YORP Zao Zephyr Zeus |
More background on naming guidelines can be found at the Minor Planet Center.
The naming contest for the near Earth asteroid currently named (101955) 1999 RQ36 is a partnership of the Planetary Society; MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory, the discoverers of (101955) 1999 RQ36; and the University of Arizona, who under principal investigator Dante Lauretta was chosen by NASA to lead the OSIRIS-REx (Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer) asteroid sample return mission.
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