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]
66001–66100
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| There are no named minor planets in this number range | |||
66101–66200
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 66151 Josefhanuš | 1998 UL | Josef Hanuš (born 1983) is a Czech planetary astronomer. He has worked on modeling rotation states and shapes of small Solar System bodies using the technique of rotation lightcurve inversion, and on their physical modeling using also infrared observations, stellar occultation data and adaptive optics observations. | JPL · 66151 |
66201–66300
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 66207 Carpi | 1999 CB1 | Carpi, a town in northern Italy, is known worldwide for its textile (especially knitwear) manufacturing and mechanical (especially woodworking) machinery. | JPL · 66207 |
| 66250 Giovanardi | 1999 GZ | Stefano Giovanardi (b. 1972), an Italian astronomer and science communicator. | IAU · 66250 |
66301–66400
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 66391 Moshup | 1999 KW4 | Moshup was a giant who lived in the coastal areas of New England, according to Native American legends, and was responsible for a variety of geologic features. As a way of maintaining balance, he married Granny Squannit, a leader of the Makiawasug, or Little People, who lived nearby. Squannit was a medicine woman of the Makiawasug who married the giant Moshup. Bad weather was attributed to times when the pair would argue. Moshup is the name of the primary, Squannit that for the satellite. | JPL · 66391 |
66401–66500
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 66454 Terezabeatriz | 1999 PM | Tereza Beatriz Braga (1948–2016) was a psychologist, psychopedagogue and Brazilian teacher, and wife of the amateur astronomer Joo Ribeiro de Barros. She sponsored the SONEAR Observatory (Oliveira-MG). A lover of the stars, she did much to spread astronomy among schoolchildren. | JPL · 66454 |
| 66458 Romaplanetario | 1999 QV1 | The planetarium in Rome, Italian: Planetario di Roma, where the discoverer, Gianluca Masi, introduced visitors to the wonders of the Universe. A new planetarium opened in 2004, replacing the older one which closed in 1984. | JPL · 66458 |
| 66479 Healy | 1999 RQ33 | David H. Healy (1936–2011), American astrophotographer and discoverer of minor planets, an original contributor to Burnham's Celestial handbook. He established the Junk Bond Observatory in Arizona, known for visual work and recoveries of minor planets. The observatory has been the site of over 60 new discoveries. | JPL · 66479 |
66501–66600
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 66583 Nicandra | 1999 RL156 | Nicandra is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family containing the single species Nicandra physalodes. While the genus is named for Greek poet Nicander, it is known by the common names "apple-of-Peru" and "shoo-fly plant." Its flowers are bell-shaped, pale violet with white throats. | JPL · 66583 |
66601–66700
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 66652 Borasisi | 1999 RZ253 | Along with its moon, Pabu, the mythical personifications of the Sun (Borasisi) and Moon (Pabu) in the fictional cosmogony of "Bokononism" described in Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle | JPL · 66652 |
| 66661 Wallin | 1999 TK2 | John F. Wallin (born 1961), an American astrophysicist at George Mason University, Virginia. He is an educator and researcher of stellar formation, galactic dynamics and the presence and effects of non-baryonic matter in the Solar System. | JPL · 66661 |
| 66667 Kambič | 1999 TZ11 | Bojan Kambič (born 1959), Slovenian founder and editor of the astronomical magazine Spika, regularly published since 1993. Spika greatly influenced the Slovenian astronomical community, boosted various astronomical activities and thoroughly changed the face of astronomy in Slovenia. | JPL · 66667 |
| 66669 Aradac | 1999 TE15 | The Serbian village of Aradac located in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, where Slovaks have been living in close fraternal ties with Serbs for centuries | JPL · 66669 |
| 66671 Sfasu | 1999 TJ17 | Stephen F. Austin State University (the minor planet was discovered at the university's observatory) | JPL · 66671 |
66701–66800
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| There are no named minor planets in this number range | |||
66801–66900
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 66843 Pulido | 1999 VG | Alfonso Pulido (born 1945), Spanish astronomical computer programmer, developer of the Elbrus software used by amateur and professional astronomers around the globe to derive the center of configurations of stars for use in high-precision telescope control. | JPL · 66843 |
| 66846 Franklederer | 1999 VP2 | Louis Franklin Lederer (1935–2009) was a director of Instrumentation Specialties Co. in Lincoln, Nebraska, and an inventor who was granted patents in 1975 and 1976 for devices measuring flow rates and air and water quality. These devices are now commonly used in the U.S., Canada and Europe. | JPL · 66846 |
| 66856 Stephenvoss | 1999 VW22 | Stephen Voss (born 1966) is a New Zealand-born general physician and noted amateur astronomer and astrophotographer. He founded the Aurora Australis Facebook page. | IAU · 66856 |
| 66885 Wangxiaomo | 1999 VH72 | Wang Xiaomo (b. 1938), a Chinese radar and electronic technology expert. | IAU · 66885 |
66901–67000
| Named minor planet | Provisional | This minor planet was named for... | Ref · Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|
| 66934 Kálalová | 1999 WF1 | Vlasta Kálalová (1896–1971), a Czech physician, interested in tropical diseases and entomology, came from the southern Bohemian town of Bernartice. In 1925, she founded the Mustausaf Czechoslovak hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, with a special focus on health services for women. | JPL · 66934 |
| 66939 Franscini | 1999 WQ8 | Stefano Franscini (1796–1857), Swiss politician and statistician. He was one of the initial members of the Swiss Federal Council elected in 1848 and Switzerland's first native Italian speaking federal councillor. | JPL · 66939 |
| 66999 Cudnik | 1999 XX115 | Brian Cudnik (born 1969) is an astronomer, author, and educator. In 1999 he visually observed the first scientifically confirmed lunar meteoroid impact. He has coordinated the Lunar Meteoritic Impact Search section of the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers and served as Chief Editor of the Encyclopedia of Lunar Science. | IAU · 66999 |
References
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