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.
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]
Cary Kaiming Huang (born 1997) is an animator and educator known for his variety of animated web shows, coding projects, and data visualization videos. He and his brother Michael created the popular online interactive size comparison tool "The Scale of the Universe" in 2010, which in turn inspired the Kurzgesagt app "Universe in a Nutshell".[9]
Igor' Mikhajlovich Makarov (born 1927) is known for his research on nonlinear and adaptive systems, artificial intelligence and the choice and acceptance of decisions. He was chief scientific secretary of the Russian Academy of Sciences during 1988–1996.
Björn Stenholm, Swedish astronomer at Lund Observatory has for many years worked on outreach activities in astronomy, notably as editor of the Swedish journal Populär Astronomi (IAU).
Yugan is the shortened name of Nefteyugansk, a town in western Siberia that is the center of the drilling operations of Ust'-Balyk and other oil fields.
Patryk Sofia Lykawka (born 1976) is a Brazilian-Italian planetary scientist and dynamicist whose contributions include modeling Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt formation and the dynamical evolution processes of mean motion resonances.
Wesley C. Fraser (born 1981) is a researcher at Queen's University Belfast whose studies include the size distribution of Kuiper Belt objects to better constrain their formation.
Frances Bagenal (born 1954), a planetary scientist and professor at the University of Colorado, who has been a science team member for the Voyager, Galileo and New Horizons missions.
Martha L. Hazen (born 1931), American astronomer who maintained Harvard's photographic plate archive and edited the Harvard Announcement Cards precursors of IAU's CBATs
Heike Rauer (born 1961), a German planetary astronomer, is known for her observational work on cometary comae, in particular that of comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp). She is currently working at the Institute of Space Sensor Technology and Planetary Exploration in Berlin on a project to search for extrasolar planetary systems.
Ettore Perozzi (born 1957), works on solar-system dynamics, planetary science and mission analysis. He has been involved in the Cassini/Huygens mission and in proposals for missions to comets and minor planets.
Hans-Ulrich Auster (born 1959) is Head of the Space Magnetometer Laboratory at Braunschweig Technical University, known for research and development of magnetometers aboard multiple spacecraft, including Rosetta's Philae lander.
Dennis Bodewits (born 1979) is a research scientist at the University of Maryland who performs observational studies of the activity and evolution of comets and active asteroids using the Swift gamma-ray burst space observatory.
Mirel Birlan (born 1963), Romanian astronomer at Paris Observatory, began his career in 1991 as an astronomer at the Bucharest Observatory. He has conducted observing campaigns on minor Solar-System bodies and has been involved in groundbased science of Rosetta mission asteroid targets. The name was suggested by M. A. Barucci.
David Gheesling (1967–2020), of Roswell, GA (USA), was an astronomy and meteorite enthusiast, author, public speaker, and a member of the Board of Director of the International Meteorite Collectors Association. H
James E. McGaha (born 1946), a Tucson astronomer, lecturer, U.S. Air Force pilot and skeptic, actively promotes science and the refutation of pseudoscience.
Keet Seel, a prehistoric cliff dwelling located in Tsegi Canyon, in what is now the Navajo National Monument in northern Arizona; the name is from a Navajo phrase "kits'iil" or "kin ts'iil" meaning "houses that have been left behind" (1998 Flagstaff Festival of Science asteroid naming contest winner). The name was suggested by M. T. Gibson.
Ghillar Michael Anderson (born 1951), of Goodooga, NSW (Australia), is an Aboriginal elder, Senior Law Man, and leader of the Euahlayi people bordering northern New South Wales and southern Queensland.
Bradford Parkinson (born 1935) is an American engineer and inventor who led a team that developed the Global Positioning System with revolutionary tracking technology.
David Chapman (born 1953) is a Canadian amateur astronomer and former underwater acoustician at the Defence Research and Development Canada, who was honored with the Simon Newcomb Award and the Service award of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) in 1986 and 2015, respectively. He was made a Fellow of the RASC IN 2020.
Danish observational astronomer Bent Grönbech (1947–1977) was known for the Grönbech-Olsen catalogues of complete Strömgren photometry of southern bright stars and for his research on eclipsing binaries, comets and minor planets. He published 36 scientific papers
John A. Schroer IV (1956–2014) was a planetarium and space science educator for the Michigan Science Center in Detroit. He was also former president of the Great Lakes Planetarium Association and an amateur radio operator.
Isabel K. Williamson (1908–2000), was a Canadian observer of aurora and meteors, who won the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada's Chant Medal in 1948
Kimberley Dawn Hay (born 1959), a North American sketch artist and amateur astronomer, observer of sunspots and meteor showers, and contributor to AMS, AAVSO, ALPO, as well as the RASC.
Erin Lee Ryan (born 1981) is a research scientist with the SETI Institute whose work includes spectral and lightcurve observations of the Hilda asteroids.
Tamotsu Hirose (born 1931) is known as an astronomical leader throughout the four prefectures of the island of Shikoku. He began observing sunspots with a heliostat in 1949, after which he built his own private observatory for the continuous observation of sunspots.
Greg Lisk (born 1963) Canadian amateur astronomer and president and organizer at RASC's Belleville Centre. In 2014, he was honored with the RASC Service Award (Src).
Brian Pihack (born 1956), a Canadian chiropractor, amateur astronomer and president at RASC's Niagara Centre, where he has been giving astronomy lectures to the public of southern Ontario.
Peter Hiscocks (1945–2018) was a Candadian amateur astronomer and electrical engineer at Ryerson University, Toronto, and an expert in light pollution abatement at RASC's Toronto Centre.
Daniel Taylor (born 1958) a Canadian amateur astronomer from Ontario, and former president of RASC's Windsor Centre, who is active in the abatement of light pollution on a national level.
Ted Arthur Bronson (born 1952), a Canadian amateur astronomer and former president of RASC's Thunder Bay Centre. In 2006, he received a RASC Service Award.
Bruce Jefferson McCurdy (born 1955) a Canadian amateur astronomer in Edmonton, who was honored with the 2007 Service Award of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) for his contributions to community outreach and his publications.
Roland George Dechesne (born 1960), a Canadian amateur astronomer, former president of the Ottawa Centre branch of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), organizer of the "Barbecue Under the Stars" event in Calgary, and a leading member of RASC's Light Pollution Abatement Committee, who was honored with the Fellowship of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada in 2021 for his lifetime of service to the Society.
Colleen O'Hare (born 1955), member of the Okanagan Centre branch of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), who won the 2012 Qilak Award and the RASC Service Award in 2018.
Joseph Fourier (1768–1830), a French mathematician who exerted a strong influence on mathematical physics through his Théorie analytique de la chaleur (1822), wherein he showed that the conduction of heat in solid bodies may be analyzed in terms of infinite mathematical series, the so-called "Fourier series". In 1798 he accompanied Napoleon to Egypt, where he was engaged, until 1801, in extensive research on Egyptian antiquities.
Holmhällar a place on the island of Gotland, Sweden, contains an unusual area of seastacks. One of the expeditions from the Uppsala Observatory to the total solar eclipse on 1954 June 30 was based there.
Ray Tomlinson (1941–2016) an American computer programmer who implemented the first email program on the ARPANET system, the precursor to the Internet, in 1971
Jaskarn Singh "Sid" Sidhu (born 1938), member of the Victoria Centre branch of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), who received the RASC President's Award in 2010.
James W. Head (born 1941) is an American geologist who has been involved in geological and surface exploration of solar-system bodies since the Apollo era. He participated in the selection of Apollo landing sites, trained astronaut crews in geology and surface exploration, planned experiments deployed on the Moon, and analyzed returned lunar samples.
Keish (c. 1855–1916), known as Skookum Jim Mason, was a Tagish adventurer and prospector in Canada's Yukon Territory who shared the Discovery Claim that initiated the Klondike Gold Rush. A trust fund he established helped provide medical care for aboriginals in the Yukon, and his house in Carcross is an interpretative centre today for Yukon culture.
Alan M. Title (born 1938) is an American physicist who participated in the Apollo Telescope Mount investigation on Skylab 2 in 1973. He developed solar telescopes and has served the COSPAR solar-physics and Earth-science communities, contributing to the Space Weather and the Small Satellite COSPAR roadmaps.
Kiyotaka Tanikawa (born 1944) is an associate professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan who specializes in the study of the three-body problem
Ji Wu (born 1958) is a Chinese physicist who has promoted collaboration between China, Europe, Russia and the United States. He was a key player in developing Double Star, the first Chinese space-science mission, and he coordinates collaboration between the Double Star program and the ESA Cluster mission.
The Belgian city of Ypres, with Bruges and Ghent, controlled Flanders in the 13th century. Within the bulge of the British lines during World War I, Ypres was completely destroyed, subsequently to be rebuilt in its original style.
Stenkyrka, a coastal parish on Gotland, Sweden. It hosts one of the largest church towers on the island. In the church can be found the oldest dated gravestone on the island, from the year 1200.
Gerda Horneck (born 1939) is a German astrobiologist who has pioneered space-biology experiments since the beginning of the space age. She has investigated the effects of space-environment exposure on a broad range of samples of living biota. Horneck was PI for astrobiology experiments from Spacelab 1 to the ISS.
Joyce E. Penner (born 1948) is an American atmospheric physicist and a leader in identifying the diversity of atmospheric aerosols associated with human activities, and how these aerosols drive climate change.
Wim Hermsen (born 1947) is a Dutch physicist who has served COSPAR since 1988. He has become involved in almost all aspects of COSPAR’s activities, including the Publications Committee, the Finance Committee and Scientific Commission E. Hermsen initiated and has supported Capacity Building workshops.
Hiroshi Ohtani (born 1939) is a professor in the department of astronomy at Kyoto University. His research themes include observational and theoretical studies of interstellar matter and observational study of active galaxies, especially of Seyfert and related galaxies.
Gotenba is a city at the foot of Mt. Fuji. Every year it is the site of a star party that promotes astronomical activities in cooperation with amateur astronomers to spread astronomy to the public
Kazuyuki Sakka (born 1943), the director of the Kyoto School of Computer Science, studied spectroscopic properties of galaxies and emission nebulae. He has also created software for astronomy education and popularization
Tadashi Mukai (born 1945), a professor in the department of earth and planetary sciences at Kobe University, is known for studies of near-earth objects
Marco Cavagna (born 1958), an Italian amateur astronomer. He began observing comets, variable stars and occultations at an early age. In 1989 he was one of the promoters of the follow-up program, with special interest in NEOs, at Sormano Observatory. Cavagna introduced the discoverers to the Italian astrometric community during its first meeting, held in Verona in 1991.
Ukichiro Nakaya (1900–1962), professor of physics at Hokkaido University, studied the crystalline structure of snow and in 1935 succeeded in making artificial snow for the first time
Atusi Numaguti (1963–2001), an associate professor at Hokkaido University, was actively involved in research on the earth's hydrological cycle. The Atmospheric General Circulation Model he established is now used as a standard in Asia. He founded a summer school for young meteorologists
The extraordinarily small character Issunboushi---Issun means about 3 cm in old Japanese---was the hero of many old Japanese tales. Born the size of a bean, he defeated ogres, succeeded in a stratagem that got him a beautiful bride, and shook a mallet that instantly transformed him into a normal young man
Akusekijima, an island in the Tokara Islands, Japan, known for its hot spring. The dense subtropical forest is believed to be the home of the gods that guard the mountainous island, and many shrines have been built to worship the gods.
Yoshikazu Watanabe (born 1953; Iso was his mother's maiden name) was a leading meteor observer in Japan. He is a council member of the Oriental Astronomical Association and a successful surveyor of historical records of comets and meteors in the modern Japanese era. The name was suggested by the discoverer and I. Hasegawa.
The founders of the Stony Ridge Observatory, the amateur astronomers Anthony L. Bland, Norman L. Boltz, Charles Buzzetti, George A. Carroll, Roy R. Cook, Alvin E. Cram, Roy K. Ensign, W. H. Griffith, Harold J. Ireland, J. George Moyen, Norris A. Roberts, Easy Sloman, John Sousa, John Terlep and Dave Thomas. The observatory is located near Los Angeles in the United States. Starting in 1964, the observatory was used by the Aeronautical Chart and Information Center in St. Louis to map potential landing sites for the Apollo space program.
Located in the Pacific Ocean 1000 km south of Tokyo, the Ogasawara Islands (Bonin Islands), with their extraordinary natural environment, are dubbed the "Galapagos of the Orient". On the Titi-jima Island is the National Astronomical Observatory's Ogasawara Station of VERA (VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry)
Minnesota astronomer Roberta M. Humphreys (born 1944) is a leader in studies of physical properties of massive stars in the Milky Way and in nearby galaxies. She headed the Automated Plate Scanner Project to digitize the Palomar Sky Survey and make a publicly available database of a billion stars and several million galaxies
Aenona, now the Croatian city of Nin is the Roman name of the first capital of the old Croatian kingdom. It is located on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea. The world's smallest cathedral, used as an observatory for establishing the local calendar, is located there.
Iriki, a historical town in the Satsuma area, Kagoshima prefecture, Japan (now merged into Satsumasendai, Kagoshima) Here on the Mt. Yaeyama highland are the National Astronomical Observatory's Iriki Station of VERA (VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry), as well as the Kagoshima University's 1-m optical-infrared telescope.
The picturesque Ishigakijima is the largest of the Yaeyama Islands, Okinawa prefecture. Installed in this island is the National Astronomical Observatory's Ishigaki Station of VERA (VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry)
André-Marie Ampère (1775–1836), French physicist who founded the science of electromagnetism. In 1820 he formulated a law that mathematically describes the phenomenon of deflection of a magnetic needle near a current-carrying wire. A full account of his theories has been given in his Mémoire sur la théorie mathématique des phénomènes électrodynamique (1827).
Luigi Galvani (1737–1798), Italian physician and physicist who conceived the electrical nature of nerve impulses. His discoveries led to the invention of the voltaic pile. His findings have been published in De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari commentarius (1791).
Yasuo Yoneda (born 1942), the first director of "Tenkyukan", the Dynic Astronomical Observatory, is an amateur astronomer who observes sunspots. He contributes to the spread of astronomy and to the support of amateur astronomers.
Paolo Pinelli (born 1954) is an amateur astronomer of the Montelupo group. He was the first to propose the construction of a public observatory in the city of Montelupo
Chariclo (Chariklo), from Greek mythology, a female centaur and the wife of Chiron, sometimes described as a sea nymph. Together they are said to have had as many as five children, and she is also sometimes said to have been the mother of Tiresias, the famous seer.
Ulisse Quadri (born 1953), an Italian teacher, amateur astronomer, discoverer of minor planets and author of articles and texts on science and mathematics for children.
Izanagi, from Japanese mythology, is the god who descended to the island Onogoro with the goddess Izanami and created the land there, including the island of Awaji.
Andreas Nathues (born 1967), a German geophysicist who studied the physical properties of the Eunomia family of minor planets at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin
Society for Popular Astronomy (SPA), a national astronomical society based in the United Kingdom, celebrates its fiftieth anniversary in 2003. It was established as the Junior Astronomical Society to promote astronomy as a hobby, particularly among beginners. The SPA is one of three national societies for astronomy in the U.K
Richard Cook (born 1965) was the Mars Pathfinder Flight Operations Manager and was responsible for running the day-to-day operations of the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft during launch, the landing phase and surface operations on Mars
Alain Klotz (born 1947), a French amateur astronomer at the Centres d´Etudes Spatiales du Rayonnement in Toulouse. He is currently president of AUDE, the French electronic detectors users association.
Taking the form of a child with bobbed hair, Zashikiwarashi is a traditional spirit of the people of the Tohoku district. It haunts the Japanese-style rooms of old families. It is said that a family would be wealthy while the spirit lives and become poor when it leaves
Hisashi Hirabayashi (born 1943), Japanese senior chief officer of JAXA Space Education and director of the Space Education Center, who led the Very Long Baseline Interferometer and Space Observatory Program with the radio satellite HALCA that successfully revealed active galactic nuclei.
Seishika is a thin purple flower specified as an endangered plant. It lives only in the Yaeyama Islands area, Okinawa prefecture. The flower blooms around April on Mt. Banna-take near the VERA Ishigakijima Station
Izanami-no-mikoto is the mythical goddess who descended to the island Onogoro with the god Izanaki and various other gods. After her death she was also called Yomotsu-ookami in the land of the dead
Aayush Karan (b. 2001) was a finalist in the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS), a science competition for high school seniors, for his mathematics project. He attended the University School of Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Ananya Karthik (b. 2001) was a finalist in the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS), a science competition for high school seniors, for her materials science project. She attended the Saint Francis High School, Mountain View, California.
Shawn M. Hermann (born 1975), now at Raytheon Corporation, Tucson, was one of the first observers for LONEOS. During 1998–1999 he discovered two Apollos, an Amor and a comet, 275P/Hermann.
Wasserkuppe, high plateau, the highest peak in the Rhön Mountains, in the German state of Hesse. At 950 m, is the highest peak in the Rhön. The area is used for glider training.
Hohe Meissner, (750 m) is a volcano north of the Rhön between the Werra and Fulda rivers, southeast of the city of Kassel, Germany. The basalt quarry is still used. The two rivers Werra and Fulda flow together near the city of Münden and form the Weser river.
Thuringian Forest, a German mountain range east of the Werra river, flowing from northwest to southeast. The summits are the Inselsberg (900 m) and the Beerberg (980 m).
Fichtel Mountains, a compact German mountain range east of the city of Bayreuth. The highest mountain is the Schneeberg (1050 m). It is a popular skiing area.
The Harz, is the northernmost and highest medium-high compact mountain range of Germany. The silver mines were used until the twentieth century, and other ores have been found here.
Heidi Graf (born 1941), former Head of ESTEC Communications Office (1977–2006) at ESA; "founding mother" of permanent exhibition Space Expo in Noordwijk, Netherlands (since 1990)
Westerwald, in Germany. It is a low mountain range with some volcanoes, blending into the "Siebengebirge", a range of seven extinct volcanic mountains.
The Hunsrück is a German mountain range, located west of the Rhine between the rivers Nahe and Mosel. In the southern part many semiprecious stones are found, helping create a jewelry industry.
The Taunus, a German mountain range, is the continuation of the Hundsrück at the eastern side of the Rhine. Its highest mountain, at 880 m, is called "Feldberg in the Taunus". As in the Schwarzwald, there are many thermal springs.
The marriage of Gareth Williams, associate director of the Minor Planet Center, and Cynthia Marsden, daughter of the director, Brian G. Marsden, in Lexington, Massachusetts, on 1 October 2002.
Krisztián Sárneczky (born 1974) is a Hungarian asteroid and comet researcher at Konkoly Observatory, who discovered 363 numbered asteroids and five supernovae. He is the leader of the Comet Section of the Hungarian Astronomical Association.
Nikolay Dollezhal (1899–2000), Russian expert in power engineering, was the chief designer of the reactor for the world's first atomic power station, located in Obninsk, some 120 km southwest of Moscow
Evgenij Valerianovich Samoilov (born 1912) is a Russian dramatic actor and People's Artist of the former U.S.S.R. He performs at the State Academic Maly Theatre in Moscow
Russian physicist Vadim Aleksandrovich Simonenko is deputy director of the Russian Scientific Research Institute of Technical Physics at Snezhinsk. He is known for his work on the hazards of near-earth objects and the protection of the earth
Mikhail Yakovlevich Marov (born 1933), professor and head of the planetary department at Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics. He is also currently the president of IAU Division III.
Cristian Giuppone (born 1979) is an Argentine astronomer at the Cordoba Astronomical Observatory investigating the co-orbital three-body problem with dissipation, with applications to planetary and small bodies dynamics.
Yuko Kimura (born 1981) is an administrative associate at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan who organizes international collaboration programs promoting studies of asteroids.
Kathryn Volk (born 1985) completed her PhD at the University of Arizona investigating the long-term dynamical evolution of Centaur asteroids and the Kuiper Belt.
Larry Evans (born 1943) is an expert in gamma-ray, x-ray and neutron spectroscopy, including the analysis and interpretation of data collected by the NEAR mission to (433) Eros.
Nathan Kaib (born 1980) is a professor at the University of Oklahoma who specializes in the formation and evolution of planetary systems, in particular the outer solar system.
Anne Virkki (born 1988) is a postdoctoral scholar at the Arecibo Observatory who studies near-Earth asteroids, specializing in understanding the properties of asteroid surfaces and regolith using radar scattering measurements.
Ye Quan-Zhi (born 1988), a Chinese postdoctoral researcher at Caltech and discoverer of minor planets, who studies the transitions between asteroids and comets and associated meteor streams.
Guy Libourel (born 1956) is a cosmochemist at Observatoire de la Côte d´Azur (France) whose research includes the petrology and formation of chondrules.
Emily Kramer (born 1986) is a postdoctoral researcher at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory who uses visible and thermal wavelength measurements to estimate the amount of mass shed by comets throughout their orbits.
Damien Lemay (b. 1943) earned an undergraduate degree in physics from Laval University in Quebec, Canada, and worked as a telecommunications engineer. He founded a local astronomy club in Rimouski and served a term as RASC national President. He won the RASC Chant Medal, mainly for a photographic atlas of the northern sky, made with a 0.14-m Schmidt camera.
Curt Saville (1946–2001) was an avid ocean and arctic explorer. He rowed across both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Saville also worked to encourage scientific exploration of the Earth and space. The name was suggested by P. C. Thomas
Geoffrey Perry (1927–2000), a physics teacher at Kettering Grammar School, England, taught his students to monitor radio signals from Soviet satellites. His group of students discovered the Plesetsk launch site and became the most reliable public source of space information during the Cold War.
Kettering Group, the satellite tracking group established by Geoffrey Perry at the school at which he taught. The group monitored and analyzed radio transmissions from Soviet satellites, often scooping official news media.
Hippolyta, from Greek mythology, was one of the greatest queens of the Amazons. She wore a beautiful golden girdle, a gift from her father Ares, the war-god, as a symbol of her Amazonian queenship. Heracles was sent by the Greeks to acquire the girdle, a battle took place, and beautiful Hippolyta died.
Romina Paula Di Sisto (born 1970) is an astronomer at the La Plata University of Argentina whose research includes the dynamics and collisional evolution of Centaurs, Jupiter family comets, and Hilda and Trojan asteroids.
Rhiannon Lynne Allen (R. Lynne Jones) (born 1973) is a researcher at the University of Washington working to optimize the performance of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope for solar system science.
Vanessa-Mae (born 1978), a Singaporean-British violinist, created a "bridge between classical and popular music". Her debut album in 1995 sold two million copies.
Stephen Singer-Brewster (born 1945), a former member of the Palomar Planet Crossing Asteroid Survey, has had a long fascination with astronomy. He is a member of the Outer Planets project at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a member of the board of trustees of Stony Ridge Observatory. He discovered comet 105P.
Toshiharu Hatanaka (born 1962), a research associate in the department of information and knowledge engineering at Tottori University, is president of the Tottori Society of Astronomy
Charles Thomas Reiland (born 1946), for many years president of the Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh, initiated the Wagman Observatory, observed in the Allegheny Observatory's astrometry program and promoted public interest in astronomy.
Rampo Edogawa (Hirai Taro, 1894–1965), born in Nabari city, Mie prefecture, was a writer who specialized in Japan's mystery genre. He was popular with young readers, and one of his best-known novels is The Boy Detectives Club.
Mayumi Narita (born 1970) is a Japanese swimmer who is a paraplegic. At the Paralympic Games in Sydney in 2000, she won six gold medals and one silver medal. She also won two gold, two silver and one bronze in Atlanta in 1996
Vladimir Alekseevich Vladimirov (born 1951) is an authority on stability theory in hydrodynamics and biophysical hydrodynamics. He is a professor of applied mathematics at the University of York. The name was suggested by V. J. Judovich
The iceberg B10A, which measures some 80 km by 40 km, broke off from the Thwaites glacier in Antarctica in 1992. Having taken hundreds of thousands of years to form, B10A now drifts in the South Atlantic driven by marine currents and wind
Sukehikro Kuragano (born 1933) is a member of Kawasaki Astronomical Association and has been an amateur observer of variable stars for about half a century. He independently discovered Comet C/1957 P1 (Mrkos) while he was climbing Mt. Fuji
Émile Durkheim (1858–1917), a French sociologist, was convinced that ethical and social structures were endangered by the advent of technology and mechanization.
Peter Bluhm (1942–1997), a German Computer specialist, was known for his efforts in electronic communication among amateur astronomers in Germany since the early 1980s. In 1987 he founded the first Astronomical Bulletin Board System in Dahlenburg. The name was suggested by A. Doppler.
Défi Corporatif Canderel is a fundraising event for cancer research programs at universities in Montreal. Founded by Jonathan Wener, the event has been directed by Gerald Levy since its inception in 1990. It features a costumed run through the streets of Montreal and has raised more than three million dollars.
Since Pam Truty founded the Burn Lake Triathlon in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1984, the relay team of Wendee Wallach-Levy, Laura Wright and Barbara Pardo has won medals every year, including 14 golds. Laura has also done more than 30 years volunteer work for the American Red Cross.
Lazzaro Spallanzani (1729–1799), an Italian biologist, was known for his research on the spontaneous generation of cellular life. He also proved that microbes come from the air, paving the way for Pasteur.
Mikio Kawamura (born 1931) is a member of Kawasaki Astronomical Association. He is a mechanical engineer by profession and has published five books on telescope-making.
Gustav Kirchhoff (1824–1887) was a German physicist who, together with Robert Bunsen, founded the discipline of spectrum analysis. They demonstrated that an element gives off a characteristic colored light when heated to incandescence.
Robert Bunsen (1811–1899) was a German chemist who discovered the alkali-group metals cesium and rubidium. He also found an antidote to arsenic poisoning (1834) and invented the carbon-zinc electric cell (1841). He is also remembered for the development of the Bunsen burner.
Tainai-Daira is a hilly district in Kurokawa Village, north of Niigata prefecture. Since 1984, the village has become the venue of the "Tainai Hoshi Matsuri".
David Sinden (born 1932), as chief optician for Grubb-Parsons of Newcastle upon Tyne, was responsible for the optical components of the Isaac Newton, Anglo-Australian and U.K. Schmidt telescopes. In 1979, he founded the Sinden Optical Company, which in 2003 restored Thomas Grubb's first reflector (1834)
In Greek myth, Hylonome was in love with Cyllaros, who was accidentally killed by a javelin thrown at a wedding. On witnessing this, Hylonome threw herself on the javelin and died.
Paolo Gigli, Italian astronomer and co-founder of the Pian dei Termini Observatory. Early on, Gigli's main interests concerned the study of variable stars and the observation of the Sun. Later he became a speaker on astronomy at the observatory.
Landscape artist Thomas Moran (1837–1926) focused his work on the American frontier, from the shores of Lake Superior to the "Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone". His illustrations of the west appeared in Harper's Weekly and The Aldine, among others. He participated in John Wesley Powell's 1873 expedition to the Grand Canyon
Ingmar Bergman (1918–2007), a Swedish theatre and film director who has achieved fame with films such as The Seventh Seal (1956) and Wild Strawberries (1957).
Lake Placid is a town in northern New York State in the U.S. that hosted the 1932 and 1980 Olympic Winter Games, Lake Placid is also the birthplace of the discoverer.
Jacques Hadamard (1865–1963), French mathematician, who made major contributions to the theory of functions of a complex variable and the study of the partial differential equations of mathematical physics. In 1896 he gave a proof of the prime number theorem that defines the frequency of prime numbers among the integers (also see Hadamard transform).
Amaterasu-oomikami, the mythical Japanese goddess of the sun, was born from the left eye of the god Izanaki and ruled the world of the heaven Takamagahara. To protest the misconduct of her younger brother, the god Susanoo, she hid in the cave called Ama-no-iwayado, and the world fell into complete darkness
Romulus, first king of Rome, reigned from 753 to 716 BC. Legend has it that the twins Romulus and Remus were saved from the Tiber river by the wolf that raised them. In the first year of this reign Romulus founded the city. He was deified as Quirinus.
Chinese nuclear scientist Zhu Guangya (born 1924) made many contributions to nuclear physics and atomic energy technologies and helped develop China's atomic energy program
Rob Manning (born 1958) was the Flight System Chief Engineer for the successful Mars Pathfinder mission at JPL. He was responsible for all technical aspects of the Pathfinder spacecraft. He also led the team that designed, developed, tested and operated Pathfinder's entry, descent and landing system
Hakkaisan is a sacred mountain in Niigata prefecture, where religious training is carried out. The astronomical observatory of Nihon University has been located on the hillside since 1992
Masateru Kobayashi (born 1953) is a Japanese amateur astronomer and the chairperson of the Astronomical Society of Yamaguchi prefecture. He has served as a guide at numerous stargazing meetings, and has planned and conducted many total solar eclipse tours.
Tsukuyomi-no-mikoto, the Japanese god of night and the moon, was born from the right eye of the god Izanami no kami (Izanaki). It is said that he made his older sister, the goddess Amaterasu, very angry and caused the separate appearance of the sun in the day and the moon at night.
Saxo Grammaticus (c.1150–1220) was secretary to Bishop Absalon, the founder of Copenhagen. He is the author of the comprehensive Gesta Danorum (Deeds of the Danes).
Michele Bannister (born 1986) is a postdoctoral research fellow at Queen's University Belfast whose work includes surveys to discover and characterize trans-Neptunian objects.
Catherine B. Olkin (born 1966) is a researcher at Southwest Research Institute (Boulder, Colorado), Deputy Project Scientist for the New Horizons mission and Deputy Principal Investigator for the Lucy mission. Her studies include stellar occultations, color compositional analysis of the Pluto system, and the study of Trojans.
Peter Bus (1951–2016) was a Dutch amateur astronomer and founding member of the Dutch Comet Section of the Royal Dutch Association for Meteorology and Astronomy.
Itacuruba (Nova Itacuruba), a town in Pernambuco, Brazil, and location of the Observatório Astronômico do Sertão de Itaparica (OASI). The original city was flooded in 1988 in forming Itaparica Lake.
Katrin Krohn (born 1984) is a researcher at the German Aerospace Center (DLR-Berlin) studying cryogenic flow features and cryovolcanism on Ceres using Dawn spacecraft data.
Przemysł aw Bartczak (born 1974) is a researcher at the Astronomical Observatory of the Adam Mickiewic University in Poznan, Poland who studies asteroid lightcurve inversion techniques that yield both convex and non-convex shape and spin solutions.
Toni Santana-Ros (born 1984) is a postdoctoral researcher at the Astronomical Observatory of the Adam Mickiewic University in Poznan, Poland where he performs photometric measurements of small bodies in support of the Gaia mission.
Audrey Thirouin (born 1984) is a researcher at the Lowell Observatory who performs photometric measurements of trans-Neptunian objects investigating differences in binary and non-binary populations.
Jennifer S. Blue (born 1954), of the U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Arizona, has been the sine qua non of the IAU Working Group on Planetary System Nomenclature since 1995, serving both as its secretary and as the keeper of the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature
Linda (née Robins) Pulliah (1956–2022) worked as a nurse and was an outreach volunteer with the RASC Sudbury Centre. She created a sense of wonder under starry skies in Northern Ontario’s parks for all ages and excelled in explaining complex science with analogies and engaging activities. She inspired colleagues locally and nationally to promote astronomy.
Jennifer West (b. 1979) earned her PhD in Astronomy at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg and joined the Dunlap Institute at the University of Toronto in 2016. She received the Dark Sky Defender Award from the International Dark Sky Association in 2011 and the RASC's Ken Chilton Prize in 2010 for her contributions to astronomy education and outreach.
John D. Marks (born 1943), an American political writer, founder and former president of Search for Common Ground (SFCG), an international non-profit organization.
Max Schreier (1907–1997), Austrian-born Bolivian astronomer, founder of observatories in Santa Ana and Patacamaya, and author of Einstein desde los Andes de Bolivia
In a 1992 study of 170 astrolabes, British industrial chemist Rowland K. E. Torode (born 1923) measured the ecliptic longitudes of the stars depicted and thereby determined, with allowance for precession, the ages of the instruments. He was also secretary of the Kidderminster Astronomical Society for several years.
[Masao Kinoshita (born 1949) discovered that the number of radio-meteor echoes decreases as the radiant approaches the meridian. This is widely known as the Kinoshita effect.
Roberto Di Luca (born 1959), amateur observer of lunar and asteroidal occultations, is network manager at the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Bologna. As a member of the Associazione Astrofili Bolognesi, he often collaborates with the group at the Osservatorio San Vittore in Bologna.
Federico Ferrini, Italian physicist and professor of astronomical techniques at the University of Pisa. He has published more than 100 scientific papers in major astronomical journals. These cover many subjects in modern theoretical astrophysics, among them planetology, star formation, the interstellar medium, galactic evolution and its cosmological effects. He is responsible for the Italian light pollution commission and is coordinator of the Mediterranean Astronomical Network.
August Strindberg (1849–1912), a Swedish playwright and novelist. His works include Röda Rummet ("The Red Room", 1879), Fröken Julie ("Miss Julie", 1888) and Dödsdansen ("The Dance of Death", 1900).
Roberto Ragazzoni (born 1966), professor of astronomy at the university of Padua and member of the Accademia dei Lincei. He specialized in the design of optical instruments and innovative telescopes.
Kushinadahime, the mythical empress of the god Susanoo-no-mikoto, was offered as a sacrifice to the giant snake Yamata-no-orochi but was saved by the god Susanoo.
According to the Japanese myth, the god Ninigi-no-mikoto is a grandson of the goddess Amaterasu. By the order of Amaterasu he descended from the heaven Takamagahara to the peak Takachiho to dominate the land
The mythical Japanese god Ookuninushi-no-mikoto created the land, together with the god Sukunabikona-no-mikoto. The name means "king of great land" and is frequently referenced in literature and folklore. A well-known story is that he helped a white rabbit skinned by a shark as retribution for trickery
Berndt Feuerbacher (born 1940), a German physicist, was for two decades head of the Institute of Space Simulation at the German Aerospace Center in Cologne.
Preeti Sai Krishnamani (b. 2001) was a finalist in the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search, a science competition for high school seniors, for her plant sciences project. She attended the Charter School of Wilmington, Wilmington, Delaware
Josef "Pepi" Bican (1913–2001), a Czech footballer who represented Austria in 19 and Czechoslovakia in 14 international matches and scored more than 5000 goals in his career. He is considered one of the best center-forward of the century by the International Federation of Soccer Historians and Statisticians. After retirement, Bican developed an interest in astronomy.
Chirag Kumar (b. 2001) was a finalist in the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search, a science competition for high school seniors, for his earth and planetary project. He attended the Horace Greeley High School, Chappaqua, New York.
Henry J. Heimlich is an American surgeon who in the early 1970s devised the "Heimlich maneuver", a potentially life-saving procedure for propelling food or other foreign objects up and out of the throat
Gerald R. McGlothlin (born 1952) was responsible for refurbishing much of the LONEOS dome, turning a photographic darkroom into a modern control room and computer room.
Varun Kumar (b. 2001) was a finalist in the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search, a science competition for high school seniors, for his medicine and health project. He attended the Bergen County Academies, Hackensack, New Jersey.
Charmaine Wilkerson (born 1962), wife of the first discoverer, Andrea Boattini, is an American-born writer and broadcaster. She has produced numerous reports on astronomical phenomena and missions.
Machiel Alberts (1909–) was the first astronomer in The Netherlands to succeed, with a home-built camera, to capture a meteor on film. He was actively engaged in meteor observations, as well as in building appliances and instruments for amateur astronomers to enable meteor photography and other types of meteor observation.
Petrus Plancius (1552–1622) was a Dutch theologian, astronomer, navigator and appointed cartographer to the new Dutch East India Company. Plancius depicted the 12 new southern constellations on a globe he constructed in 1598.
The Sauerland, a German rural region, has fairly high mountains, such as Kahler Asten at 840 m, and is partly a nature reserve. It lies just east of the German industrial Rhine-Ruhr region. The area is frequented by hikers during summer and by skiers and tobogganers during winter.
The Black Forest (Schwarzwald) in Germany. It lies east of the Rhine river and extends from Basel as far as the city of Baden-Baden. Up to the timber line at about 1200 m, its vegetation consists mainly of fir and spruce.
Cissy van Marxveldt (Setske de Haan), 19th–20th-century Dutch writer, author of the humorous Joop ter Heul novels for teenage girls; Anne Frank addressed her diary letters to an imaginary friend based on one of van Marxveldt's characters
The discoverer's grandchildren: Pandora Mae Honiara (born 2000), Noël Richard (born 2000), Alexander Richard (born 2001), Orlando Harry Tengis (born 2002), Samuel Philip (born 2004), Salomé Olivia Lindsay (born 2005), Lidia Philipa (born 2007). The name is an anagram of the first name initials.
Ukrainian physicist Vladimir Petrovich Seminozhenko (born 1950) is known for his research on the kinetics of excitation in superconductors and semiconductors and on high-temperature superconductivity
Tatiana Andreevna Kostyukova (born 1957) is a botanist and cultivator of flowers in Kyiv. Her collection of flowers won a diploma at the 2001 Moscow Autumn Flower Show
Alexey A. Berezhnoy (born 1972) is a Russian chemist and astronomer at Moscow State University studying chemical processes during the interaction of meteoroids with planetary atmospheres and surfaces, including the lunar exosphere.
Gonzalo Carlos de Elía (born 1977) is an Argentine astronomer at La Plata National University who studies the formation and evolution of planetary systems.
James P. McDanell (born 1937) spent nearly three decades with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory before retiring in 1999. He was the Voyager Navigation Team Chief during the successful encounters with Saturn and its satellites. He subsequently became manager of the Navigation Systems Section
Adrian Rodriguez Colucci (born 1978) is an astronomer at the Valongo Observatory of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is a specialist in tidal evolution of planets and small bodies.
Victor Alí-Lagoa (born 1983) is a Spanish astronomer whose PhD research at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias focused on the thermal properties of small bodies.
Chan-Kao "Rex" Chang (born 1976) is a researcher at the National Central University of Taiwan whose work includes searching for fast-rotating asteroids in Palomar Transient Factory survey data and rotation rate distribution studies.
Anton Ermakov (born 1988) is a postdoctoral researcher at the California Institute of Technology who studies the gravity and interior structures of Vesta and Ceres using Dawn spacecraft data.
Carter Worth Roberts (born 1946), president of the Eastbay Astronomical Society. He collaborated on a safe solar-eclipse-viewing booklet and helped restore "Rachel", the 0.5-m Brashear refractor for the Chabot Space and Science Center
Heather Kaluna (born 1984) is a researcher at the University of Hawaii studying the evolution of water in carbonaceous asteroids as well as space weathering processes.
Noemi Pinilla-Alonso (born 1971) is a planetary scientist at the Florida Space Institute who specializes in the study of surface compositions of minor solar system bodies using observational techniques and modeling.
José Luis Massera (1915–2002), a Uruguayan mathematician who studied the stability of differential equations. Massera's Lemma solves the equilibrium stability problem in nonlinear differential equations in terms of the Lyapunov function.
Juan Diego Sans (1922–2005) was a Uruguayan professor and public communicator of astronomy at the Universidad de la Republica. He was co-founder of the Asociación de Aficionados a la Astronomía and president of the Sociedad Uruguaya de Astronomía.
Cyril P. Opeil SJ (born 1960) is a professor at Boston College studying the thermal properties of meteorites to improve understanding of orbital and rotational changes caused by the re-radiation of solar flux.
Amanda M. Zangari (born 1986) is a postdoctoral researcher at Southwest Research Institute (Boulder, Colorado) whose studies include photometry and stellar occultations of the Pluto system and other Kuiper belt objects.
Pedro Lacerda (born 1975) is a lecturer at Queen's University Belfast whose work includes analyzing rotational lightcurves to infer physical properties of trans-Neptunian objects and other small solar system bodies.
Silvia Maria Giuliatti Winter (born 1965) is a Brazilian astronomer at the São Paulo State University working on ring dynamics and the dynamics of the Pluto system.
Othon Cabo Winter (born 1963) is a Brazilian astronomer at the São Paulo State University researching orbital dynamics with application to the stability of multiple asteroid systems.
Kelsi N. Singer (born 1984) is a postdoctoral researcher at Southwest Research Institute (Boulder, Colorado) studying outer solar system icy satellites and the Kuiper belt population through the crater size distribution revealed by the New Horizons mission to the Pluto system.
Pietro Calabrese (1944–2010) was editor of the Italian newspapers Il Messaggero and La Gazzetta dello Sport. He was interested in communicating with extraterrestrial intelligence.
Juan Angel Viera (1925–2012) was an amateur astronomer, high-school teacher in astronomy and a communicator in Uruguay. He was Honorary President and co-founder of the Asociación de Aficionados a la Astronomía.
Jennifer (Jenni) Anne MacKinnon Sidey-Gibbons (b. 1988) studied at McGill University and earned her PhD from the University of Cambridge, where she continued on as assistant professor and lecturer in engineering. Her research related to combustion and the complex processes involved. In 2017, she was selected as an astronaut by the Canadian Space Agency.
Dumitru Prunariu (born 1952 ) became the first Romanian cosmonaut flying in 1981 aboard Soyuz 40 to the Salyut 6 space laboratory. He is one of the proposal initiators for International Asteroid Day (June 30) declared by the UN General Assembly.
Richard Spalding (born 1935) is an engineer at Sandia National Laboratories whose satellite projects include the detection of Gamma Ray Bursts and transient atmospheric phenomena generated by lightning and meteors.
Nikolaj Nikolaevich Samusʹ (born 1949) is a scientist in stellar astrophysics at the Institute of Astronomy of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Moscow University.
Valerio Carruba (born 1970) is an astronomer at the São Paulo State University in Brazil whose research includes the dynamics and identification of asteroid families and the effect of non-linear secular resonances in the asteroid belt.
Max von Laue (1879–1960), student of Planck, discovered the diffraction of x-rays in crystals, thereby permitting their structural analysis. For this he received the 1914 Nobel Prize in physics.
Amenouzume is the mythical Japanese goddess who managed to free the goddess Amaterasu by dancing in front of the rock door when she shut herself up in the cave Ama-no-iwayado. After that Amenouzume descended from heaven, following the god Ninigi-no-mikoto.
Minoru Aimoto (born 1965), a senior researcher at Saji Observatory, is in charge of astronomical exhibitions and astronomical lectures for visitors to the observatory.
Yamatano-orochi is a giant snake appearing in Japanese ancient mythology. The snake had eight heads and eight tails and was long enough to cover eight valleys and eight peaks. It was defeated by the god Susanoo-no-mikoto.
Ayn Rand (1905–1982), Russian-born philosopher and writer, emigrated to the United States at age 21. She was the author of several novels and books, including The Fountainhead (1943) and Atlas Shrugged (1957)
Renaud Savalle (born 1971), an astronomical software programmer, wrote the CCD acquisition system used by the Asteroid Survey at Caussols that allowed this minor planet to be discovered.
Okina and Ouna are the two small lunar explorers developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. They were separated from the main orbiter of the lunar explorer "KAGUYA (SELENE)" in Oct. 2007. Okina and Ouna are also the foster parents of Kaguya in the old Japanese story Kaguya-hime
Thomas Lam (b. 2001) was a finalist in the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search, a science competition for high school seniors, for his mathematics project. He attended the Syosset High School, Syosset, New York.
Gabrielle Kaili-May Liu (born 2001) was awarded first place in the 2019 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) for her systems software project. She was awarded third place in the 2017 Siemens Competition for her math project and was a finalist in the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS), a science competition for high school seniors, for her computer science project. She was named a 2018 RSI Scholar. She attended the Ravenwood High School, Brentwood, Tennessee, USA and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Eish Maheshwari (b. 2002) was a finalist in the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search, a science competition for high school seniors, for his medicine and health project. He attended the Herricks High School, New Hyde Park, New York.
Sai Preethi Mamidala (b. 2001) was a finalist in the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search, a science competition for high school seniors, for her chemistry project. She attended the Garnet Valley High School, Glen Mills, Pennsylvania.
Natasha M. Maniar (b. 2001) was a finalist in the 2019 Regeneron Science Talent Search, a science competition for high school seniors, for her computational biology and bioinformatics project. She attended the Harker School, San Jose, California.
The Kaiserstuhl (570 m) is an old volcanic mountain range between the Schwarzwald and the Rhine river. It has one of the mildest climates in Germany. Since Roman times the slopes of the mountains have been covered with vineyards, producing the well-known wine "Kaiserstühler".
The Odenwald is a mountain range in Germany between the Main and Neckar rivers, east of the Rhine river. Heidelberg is located in the southern part of the Odenwald. Its summits are Königstuhl and Melibokus.
The Spessart, a small chain of mountains surrounded by the river Main on three sides in Germany. It is part of the mountains east of the Rhine, which extend from Basel in the south to Frankfurt in the north.
The Apennine Mountains is a mountain range that extends for the whole length of Italy, a 1400-km stretch from the Gulf of Genoa to the Strait of Messina.
C. H. D. Buys Ballot (1817–1890), Dutch meteorologist, described Buys Ballot's law describing the turning of the winds in northern and southern hemispheres. He founded the Astronomical Institute at the University of Utrecht (Sonnenborgh) in 1853 and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute in 1854.
Christiaan Sterken (born 1946), a Belgian astronomer, Research Director of the Belgian Fund For Scientific Research, and co-founder of the Journal of Astronomical Data
Michael Perryman (born 1954), British project scientist and scientific leader of the HIPPARCOS and GAIA astrometry missions of the European Space Agency
Tim de Zeeuw (born 1956), a Dutch astronomer at Leiden Observatory and Director General of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) since 2007. He is the husband of Ewine van Dishoeck (see (10971))
Schelderode is an agrarian village founded in the tenth century and located along the river Schelde in Flanders, Belgium. It has been the workplace and residence of Belgian astronomer Christiaan Sterken for more than three decades.
Edwin Mathlener (born 1962), Dutch astronomy amateur, director of Dutch astronomy information center "De Koepel" and editor of its magazine "Zenit" and almanac "Sterrengids".
Alejandro Feinstein (born 1928), an Argentinian astronomer at La Plata Observatory and co-founder of the Argentinian Astronomical Association (Asociación Argentina de Astronomía)
Boris Nikolaevich Okunev (1897–1961), professor at the D. F. Ustinov Mechanical Institute in Leningrad, was a scientist in theoretical mechanics and ballistics.
Marc Fouchard (born 1972) is a professor at the Laboratoire d´Astronomie de Université Lille and collaborator at the Institut de Mécanique Céleste et de Calcul des Éphémérides (IMCCE) (France), specializing in the dynamics of long-period comets.
Felipe Braga-Ribas (born 1982) is a professor at the Federal Technological University of Paraná, Curitiba (Brazil) specializing in predictions and observations of stellar occultations, including the detection of rings around the centaur (10199) Chariklo.
