Meanings of minor planet names: 187001–188000

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.

Official naming citations of newly named small Solar System bodies are approved and published in a bulletin by IAU's Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN).^[1] Before May 2021, citations were published in MPC's Minor Planet Circulars for many decades.^[2] Recent citations can also be found on the JPL Small-Body Database (SBDB).^[3] Until his death in 2016, German astronomer Lutz D. Schmadel compiled these citations into the Dictionary of Minor Planet Names (DMP) and regularly updated the collection.^[4]^[5]

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]

187001–187100

Named minor planet	Provisional	This minor planet was named for...	Ref · Catalog
There are no named minor planets in this number range

187101–187200

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Named minor planet	Provisional	This minor planet was named for...	Ref · Catalog
187123 Schorderet	2005 QO₈₄	Jean-Marcel Schorderet (born 1935), retired director and producer at the Schweizer Fernsehen of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation	JPL · 187123
187125 Marxgyörgy	2005 QD₈₇	György Marx (1927–2002), a Hungarian physicist and astrophysicist.	JPL · 187125

187201–187300

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Named minor planet	Provisional	This minor planet was named for...	Ref · Catalog
187276 Meistas	2005 TM₄₈	Edmundas Meistas (born 1936), a Lithuanian astronomer and writer of popular science articles. Expert in stellar photometry, his research includes the structure of galaxies, interstellar extinction, and asteroseismology of white dwarfs.	JPL · 187276
187283 Jeffhopkins	2005 TC₆₆	Jeffrey Hopkins (born 1940), leading amateur photometrist	JPL · 187283

187301–187400

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Named minor planet	Provisional	This minor planet was named for...	Ref · Catalog
There are no named minor planets in this number range

187401–187500

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Named minor planet	Provisional	This minor planet was named for...	Ref · Catalog
187410 Anitabrockie	2005 VT₆₀	Anita Brockie (b. 1959), the memory care director and a nurse at a senior living facility in Tucson, Arizona.	IAU · 187410
187447 Johnmester	2005 WD₁₁₇	John Clark Mester (born 1961), an American physicist and former Associate Vice President for Research at the University of Arizona, who was involved in the development and launch of the Gravity Probe B, a satellite-based experiment to test two unverified predictions of general relativity.	IAU · 187447

187501–187600

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Named minor planet	Provisional	This minor planet was named for...	Ref · Catalog
187514 Tainan	2006 TM₉₄	Tainan is located in southern Taiwan and is the oldest and the fifth-largest city on the island	JPL · 187514
187531 Omorichugakkou	2006 UM₆₃	Omorichugakkou is the name of the junior high school in Suzaka-shi, Nagano prefecture, Japan. Students discovered this minor planet during one of the commemoration events for the 60th anniversary of the school's founding.	JPL · 187531

187601–187700

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Named minor planet	Provisional	This minor planet was named for...	Ref · Catalog
187636 Chungyuan	2007 CF₁₃	The Chung Yuan Christian University (CYCU, formerly Chung Yuan Christian College of Science and Engineering) was established in October 1955 and upgraded to the status of a full university in August 1980. After five decades, CYCU has more than 120,000 alumni.	JPL · 187636
187638 Greenewalt	2007 CH₂₆	Crawford Greenewalt (1902–1993), an American chemical engineer who witnessed Fermi's first atomic chain reaction in 1942	JPL · 187638
187669 Obastromca	2008 CK₅	The Observatorio Astronómico de Mallorca was founded in 1991. More than 100 numbered minor planets have been discovered there, including the Atira-class (367943) Duende.	IAU · 187669
187679 Folinsbee	2008 DC₅	Robert E. Folinsbee (1917–2008), a Canadian geologist at the University of Alberta	JPL · 187679
187680 Stelck	2008 DE₅	Charles R. Stelck (1917–2016), Canadian paleontologist, stratigrapher and teacher	JPL · 187680
187700 Zagreb	2008 EG₈	The city of Zagreb, capital and the largest city of Croatia	JPL · 187700

187701–187800

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Named minor planet	Provisional	This minor planet was named for...	Ref · Catalog
187707 Nandaxianlin	2008 EQ₃₅	Nandaxianlin is the new campus of Nanjing University	JPL · 187707
187709 Fengduan	2008 EW₃₆	Feng Duan (1923–), Chinese physicist and member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences	JPL · 187709

187801–187900

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Named minor planet	Provisional	This minor planet was named for...	Ref · Catalog
There are no named minor planets in this number range

187901–188000

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Named minor planet	Provisional	This minor planet was named for...	Ref · Catalog
187981 Soluri	2001 QL₃₀₇	Michael R. Soluri (born 1946), a documentary photographer who worked as the official project photographer for the New Horizons mission to Pluto	JPL · 187981

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References

^ "WGSBN Bulletin Archive". Working Group Small Body Nomenclature. 14 May 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
^ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
^ "JPL – Solar System Dynamics: Discovery Circumstances". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
^ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
^ Schmadel, Lutz D. (2006). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – Addendum to Fifth Edition: 2003–2005. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. ISBN 978-3-540-34360-8. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
^ Herget, Paul (1968). The Names of the Minor Planets. Cincinnati, Ohio: Minor Planet Center, Cincinnati Observatory. OCLC 224288991.
^ "Guide to Minor Body Astrometry – When can I name my discovery?". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
^ "Minor Planet Naming Guidelines (Rules and Guidelines for naming non-cometary small Solar-System bodies) – v1.0" (PDF). Working Group Small Body Nomenclature (PDF). 20 December 2021.

Preceded by 186,001–187,000	Meanings of minor planet names List of minor planets: 187,001–188,000	Succeeded by 188,001–189,000

[WGSBN-Bulletin-Archive-1] "WGSBN Bulletin Archive". Working Group Small Body Nomenclature. 14 May 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2021.

[MPC-Circulars-Archive-2] "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 27 July 2016.

[JPL-Discovery-3] "JPL – Solar System Dynamics: Discovery Circumstances". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Retrieved 25 June 2019.

[DoMPN-4] Schmadel, Lutz D. (2003). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3. Retrieved 27 July 2016.

[DoMPN-Addendum-5] Schmadel, Lutz D. (2006). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names – Addendum to Fifth Edition: 2003–2005. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. ISBN 978-3-540-34360-8. Retrieved 27 July 2016.

[Herget-6] Herget, Paul (1968). The Names of the Minor Planets. Cincinnati, Ohio: Minor Planet Center, Cincinnati Observatory. OCLC 224288991.

[MPC-Preannouncement-7] "Guide to Minor Body Astrometry – When can I name my discovery?". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 20 July 2019.

[WGSBN-Naming-Guidelines-8] "Minor Planet Naming Guidelines (Rules and Guidelines for naming non-cometary small Solar-System bodies) – v1.0" (PDF). Working Group Small Body Nomenclature (PDF). 20 December 2021.

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