Minor Planet Circulars

The quantity of numbered minor planets is now approaching half a million. Together with this Addendum, the sixth edition of the Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, which is the IAU's official reference for the field, now covers more than 19,000 named minor planets. In addition to being of practical value for identification purposes, the Dictionary of Minor Planet Names provides authoritative information about the basis for the rich and colorful variety of ingenious names, from heavenly goddesses to artists, from scientists to Nobel laureates, from historical or political figures to ordinary women and men, from mountains to buildings, as well as a variety of compound terms and curiosities. This Addendum to the 6th edition of the Dictionary of Minor Planet Names adds approximately 2200 entries. It also contains many corrections, revisions and updates to the entries published in earlier editions. This work is an abundant source of information for anyone interested in minor planets and who enjoys reading about the people and things minor planets commemorate.

Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, Fifth Edition, is the official reference for the field of the IAU, which serves as the internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies and any surface features on them. The accelerating rate of the discovery of minor planets has not only made a new edition of this established compendium necessary but has also significantly altered its scope: this thoroughly revised edition concentrates on the approximately 10,000 minor planets that carry a name. It provides authoritative information about the basis for all names of minor planets. In addition to being of practical value for identification purposes, this collection provides a most interesting historical insight into the work of those astronomers who over two centuries vested their affinities in a rich and colorful variety of ingenious names, from heavenly goddesses to more prosaic constructions. The fifth edition serves as the primary reference, with plans for complementary booklets with newly named bodies to be issued every three years.

An overview of asteroid science, summarising the astronomical and geological characteristics of asteroids, for students and researchers.