Provisional designation of in astronomy is the naming convention applied to astronomical objects immediately following their discovery. The provisional designation is usually superseded by a permanent designation once a reliable orbit has been calculated. In the case of asteroids, so many have been discovered that many will never be named by their discoverers. In ancient times, only the Sun and Moon, a few hundred stars and the most easily visible planets had names. ... See also Lists of astronomical objects Categories: Astronomical objects ...

Asteroids

The current system of provisional designation of asteroids has been in place since 1925, and superseded several previous conventions, each of which was rendered obsolete by the increasing numbers of asteroid discoveries. Jump to: navigation, search 1925 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Historical designations

The first four asteroids were discovered in the early 19th century, after which there was a lengthy gap before the discovery of the fifth. Astronomers initially had no reason to believe that there would be countless thousands of asteroids, and strove to assign a symbol to each new discovery, in the tradition of the symbols used for the major planets. For example, 1 Ceres was assigned a stylized sickle, 2 Pallas a lozenge with a crossed handle, 3 Juno a Venus mirror crowned by a star (later became a star with a crossed handle) and 4 Vesta a sacred fire altar [1]. Jump to: navigation, search An asteroid is a small, solid object in our Solar System, orbiting the Sun. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1 Ceres (seer-eez, Latin CerÄ“s) was the first asteroid to be discovered. ... 2 Pallas (pal-us) was the first asteroid discovered after 1 Ceres. ... 3 Juno (jew-noh) was discovered on September 1, 1804 by German astronomer Karl L. Harding, using a humble 2-inch telescope. ... 4 Vesta (ves-ta) is the third-largest asteroid in the Main belt, between 530 and 468 km in diameter. ...

It soon became apparent, though, that continuing to assign symbols was impractical and provided no assistance when the number of known asteroids was in the tens. Johann Franz Encke introduced a new system in the Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch (BAJ) for 1854, published in 1851, in which he used encircled numbers instead of symbols. Encke's system began the numbering with Astrea which was given the number (1) and went through (11) Eunomia, while Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta continued to be denoted by symbols, but in the following year's BAJ, the numbering was changed so that Astraea was number (5). Johann Franz Encke (September 23, 1791 – August 26, 1865) was a German astronomer, born in Hamburg. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1854 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1851 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

The new system found popularity among astronomers, and since then, the final designation of an asteroid is a number indicating its order of discovery followed by a name. Even after the adoption of this system, though, several more asteroids received symbols, including 28 Bellona the whip and lance of Mars' martial sister, 35 Leukothea an ancient lighthouse and 37 Fides a latin cross. According to Webster's A Dictionary of the English Language, G. & C. Merriam & Co., Springfield (Ma), USA, p. 1780 (1884), four more asteroids were also given symbols: 16 Psyche, 17 Thetis, 26 Proserpina, and 29 Amphitrite. However, there is no evidence that these symbols were ever used outside of their initial publication in the Astronomische Nachrichten. 28 Bellona is a large main belt asteroid. ... 35 Leukothea is a large, dark main belt asteroid. ... 37 Fides is a large main belt asteroid. ... 16 Psyche is the 13th-largest Main belt asteroid, measuring 250 kilometers in diameter. ... 17 Thetis (THAY tiss) is a large Main belt asteroid. ... 26 Proserpina (proh-sur-pi-na) is a Main belt asteroid. ... 29 Amphitrite is one of the largest Main belt asteroids. ...

Genesis of the current system

Several different notation and symbolic schemes were used during the latter half of the nineteenth century, but the present form first appeared in the journal Astronomische Nachrichten (AN) in 1911. New numbers were assigned by the AN on receipt of a discovery announcement, and a permanent designation was then assigned once an orbit had been calculated for the new object. Jump to: navigation, search 1911 was a common year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). ...

At first, the provisional designation consisted of the year of discovery followed by a letter indicating the sequence of the discovery, but omitting the letter I (sometimes J was omitted instead). Under this scheme, 333 Badenia was initially designated 1892 A, 163 Erigone was 1892 B, etc. In 1893, though, increasing numbers of discoveries forced the revision of the system to use double letters instead, in the sequence AA, AB...AZ, BA and so on. The sequence of double letters was not restarted each year, so that 1894 AQ followed 1893 AP and so on. In 1916, the letters reached ZZ and, rather than starting a series of triple-letter designations, the double-letter series was restarted with 1916 AA. 333 Badenia is a large Main belt asteroid. ... 163 Erigone is a dark-colored, fairly big Main belt asteroid and a member of the Erigone family of asteroids. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1893 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 379 Huenna is a rather large Main belt asteroid. ... 378 Holmia is a typical Main belt asteroid. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1916 is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January-February January 1 -The first successful blood transfusion using blood that had been stored and cooled. ...

Later refinements

1925 saw the adoption of a more structured lettering system, in which the provisional designation consisted of the year of discovery, followed by two letters indicating the order of the object's discovery within that year. The first letter indicated the half-month (A=first half of January, B=second half of January, etc), while the second letter indicated the sequence of the discovery. So, the 8th asteroid discovered in the second half of March 1950 would be provisionally designated 1950 FH. If more than 25 objects are discovered in a given half-month (The letter I is not used), the lettering restarts with a subscript 1

Examples

In the year 2004, the first asteroid discovery of January 1 would be named 2004 AA. Then the naming continues to 2004 AZ, followed by 2004 AA₁ (partly for technological reasons (ASCII limitations), the subscript may be "flattened out", so that 2004 AA₁ is written 2004 AA1). The next discovery is 2004 AB₁, then 2004 AC₁, etc. Eventually one could get to something like 2004 AA₂₇₆. Following the end of the half-month, the next asteroid to be discovered would receive the provisional designation 2004 BA. Jump to: navigation, search 2004(MMIV) is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search There are 95 printable ASCII characters, numbered 32 to 126. ...

The large outer solar system object 90377 Sedna had the provisional designation 2003 VB₁₂, meaning it was discovered in the first half of November 2003, and that it was the 302nd object (B->2 + 12*25 = 302) discovered during that time. 28978 Ixion, originally 2001 KX₇₆, was discovered in the latter half of May 2001, and was the (X->23 + 76*25 = 1923) 1,923^rd object discovered during that time. Jump to: navigation, search 90377 Sedna is a trans-Neptunian object, discovered by Michael Brown (Caltech), Chad Trujillo (Gemini Observatory) and David Rabinowitz (Yale University) on November 14, 2003. ... (28978) Ixion (ik·sye·un) is a Kuiper belt object discovered on May 22, 2001 with a diameter of < 822 km and a semimajor axis of about 39. ... Jump to: navigation, search 2001: A Space Odyssey. ...

Comets

The system used previous to 1995 was complex. The year was followed by a space and then a Roman numeral in most cases, but difficulties always arose when an object needed to be placed between previous discoveries. For example, after Comet 1990 III and Comet 1990 IV might be reported, an object discovered in between the discovery dates couldn't be designated Comet 1990 III 1/2. More commonly comets were known by the discover's name and the year.

The system since 1995 follows the provisional designation in astronomy of asteroids. For comets, the provisional designation consists of the year of discovery, followed by ONE letter (unlike the asteroids with two) indicating the order of the object's discovery within that year. The first letter indicates the half-month (A=first half of January, B=second half of January, etc. skipping I and not reaching Z), while the next character, an on-the-line-digit, indicates the sequence of the discovery. So, the 8th comet discovered in the second half of March 2006 would be given a provisional designation 2006 F8. The tenth comet of late March would thus be 2006 F10.

This method contrasts with asteroids, which use subscripted numerals. If a comet splits, its segments are given the same provisional designation with a suffixed letter A, B, C, ..., Z, a, b, c..., z. One presumes that tracking beyond 52 fragments is unlikely.

If an object is originally found asteroidal, and later develops a cometary tail, it RETAINS its asteroidal designation.

Provisional designations for comets are given condensed or "packed form" in the same manner as asteroids. 2006 F8 would be listed in the IAU Minor Planet Database as K06F080. The last character is purposely a zero, as that allows comet and asteroid designations not to overlap.

Further detail is found at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/lists/CometResolution.html[2]

Satellites of planets

When satellites are first discovered, they are given provisional designations such as "S/2000 J 11" (the 11th new satellite of Jupiter discovered in 2000) or "S/2003 S 1" (the 1st new satellite of Saturn discovered in 2003). The initial "S/" stands for "satellite", and distinguishes from such prefixes as "D/", "C/", and "P/", used for comets. These designations are sometimes written like "S/2003 S1", dropping the second space. Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the year 2000. ... Jump to: navigation, search 2003(MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Photo of the comet Hale-Bopp above a tree. ...

Asteroid moons

The provisional designation system for asteroid moons follows that established for the satellites of the major planets. The prefix "S/" indicates a natural satellite, and is followed by the year (using the date when the discovery image was acquired, not necessarily the date of discovery). A one letter code identifies the planet (J, S, U, N, P for Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, respectively, and then a number identifies sequentially the observation. For example, Naiad, the innermost moon of Neptune, was at first designated S/1989 N 6. Later, once its existence and orbit were confirmed, it received its full designation, Neptune III Naiad. Jump to: navigation, search A simulated view of Naiad orbiting Neptune with The Sun in the distance. ...

With minor planets, the planet letter code is replaced by the minor planet number in parentheses. Thus, the moon of 87 Sylvia, discovered in 1998, was at first designated S/2001 (87) 1, later receiving its permanent designation of (87) Sylvia I Romulus. Where more than one moon has been discovered, Roman numerals specify the discovery sequence, so that Sylvia's second moon is designated (87) Sylvia II Remus. 87 Sylvia (sil-vee-a) is one of the largest main belt asteroids. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...

External links

• When Did the Asteroids Become Minor Planets?
• Benjamin A. Gould, On the symbolic notation of the asteroids, Astronomical Journal, Vol. 2, Iss. 34, p. 80, 1852
• New- And Old-Style Minor Planet Designations (Minor Planet Center)