BellaOnline Forums Education Astronomy Naming Asteroids - New article

How do asteroids get their names? You have to discover an asteroid to name it, but you still can't name it after yourself or your cat. You also can't buy the naming right, though someone might give theirs to you.

Naming Asteroids

Asteroids 482 Petrina & 483 Seppina were named for the discoverer’s pet dogs. But when the discoverer of 2309 named it Mr Spock for his cat there was some controversy about it.

Perhaps if he'd named it for the Star Trek character, it would have been ok. There didn't seem to be a problem with 18610 Arthurdent named for Douglas Adams's bemused hero of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Asteroid 134160 Pluis is a moving memorial to the discover's baby niece who died of leukemia at only 6 months. Her parents nickname for little Aina Vandenabeele was "Pluis" - Dutch for "fluff". It is a tribute to children with cancer.