Provisional designation in astronomy
Designation of an astronomical body after its discovery and before its official name / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Provisional designation 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 The provisional designation is usually superseded by a permanent designation once a reliable orbit has been calculated. Approximately 47% of the more than 1,100,000 known minor planets[2] remain provisionally designated, as hundreds of thousands have been discovered in the last two decades.[3]
25,000
50,000
75,000
100,000
125,000
150,000
'90
'95
2000
'05
'10
'15
Yearly number of provisional minor planet designations assigned by the MPC since 1990. As of May 2019[update], a total of 1,426,477 designations have been assigned since 1869.[1]