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A dwarf planet is a small planetary-mass object that is in direct orbit around the Sun, massive enough to be gravitationally rounded, but insufficient to achieve orbital dominance like the eight classical planets of the Solar System.
This is a list of named minor planets in an alphabetical, case-insensitive order grouped by the first letter of their name. [a] [b] New namings, typically proposed by the discoverer and approved by the Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN) of the International Astronomical Union, are published nowadays in their WGSBN Bulletin and summarized in a dedicated list several times a year.
The adjectival forms of the names of astronomical bodies are not always easily predictable. Attested adjectival forms of the larger bodies are listed below, along with the two small Martian moons; in some cases they are accompanied by their demonymic equivalents, which denote hypothetical inhabitants of these bodies.
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.
The following is a partial list of minor planets, running from minor-planet number 1 through 1000, inclusive.The primary data for this and other partial lists is based on JPL's "Small-Body Orbital Elements" [1] and data available from the Minor Planet Center.
Following a proposal of the discovering astronomer, new minor planet names are approved and published by IAU's WGSBN several times a year. [1] The WGSBN applies a set of rules for naming minor planets. [3] These range from syntax restrictions to non-offensive meanings. Over the years the rules have changed several times.
A planet usually has at least around 10,000 times the mass of any natural satellites that orbit it, with a correspondingly much larger diameter. [3] The Earth–Moon system is a unique exception in the Solar System; at 3,474 kilometres (2,158 miles) across, the Moon is 0.273 times the diameter of Earth and about 1 ⁄ 80 of its mass. [ 4 ]
According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. [ a ] Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term minor planet , but that year's meeting reclassified minor planets and comets into dwarf planets and ...