Minor Planets Named After Their Discoverers

To the best of my knowledge, only 18 minor planets have been named after their discoverers. While the discoverer has first naming rights, they cannot name a minor planet after themselves, though they can (and sometimes do) name a minor planet after a spouse, parent, or child.

Of course, many minor planet discoverers have minor planets named after them, but almost always these are discoveries by someone else who decides to name one of “their” minor planets after the other discoverer.

In the rare situation when someone decides (and has the authority) to name a discoverer’s minor planet after the discoverer, it is almost always a posthumous honor. Comet discoveries, on the other hand, are automatically named after their discoverer(s).

I have reader Rafael to thank for letting me know that Eugène Delporte does indeed have an asteroid he discovered named after him (see comments after Eugène Delporte and the Constellation Jigsaw) and this got me wondering if there were other examples. I wrote a SAS program to do some fuzzy matching between asteroid name and asteroid discoverer, and came up with the following list. Let me know if there are any others I missed, and I will include them here.

792 Metcalfia
Discovered 1907 Mar 20 by Joel Hastings Metcalf (1866-1925) at Taunton, Massachusetts.

989 Schwassmannia
Discovered 1922 Nov 18 by Arnold Schwassmann (1870-1964) at Bergedorf, Germany.

1074 Beljawskya
Discovered 1925 Jan 26 by Sergey Ivanovich Belyavskij (1883-1953) at Simeïs, Crimea.

1111 Reinmuthia
Discovered 1927 Feb 11 by Karl Reinmuth (1892-1979) at Heidelberg, Germany.

1274 Delportia
Discovered 1932 Nov 28 by Eugène J. Delporte (1882-1955) at Uccle, Belgium.

1596 Itzigsohn
Discovered 1951 Mar 8 by Miguel Itzigsohn (1908–1978) at La Plata, Argentina.

1648 Shajna
Discovered 1935 Sep 5 by Pelageya Fedorovna Shajn (1894-1956) at Simeïs, Crimea.

1655 Comas Solá
Discovered 1929 Nov 28 by José Comas Solá (1868-1937) at Barcelona, Spain.

1666 van Gent
Discovered 1930 Jul 22 by Hendrik van Gent (1899-1947) at Johannesburg, South Africa.

1777 Gehrels
Discovered 1960 Sep 24 by C. J. van Houten, I. van Houten-Groeneveld, and Tom Gehrels (1925-2011) at Palomar Mountain, California.

1927 Suvanto
Discovered 1936 Mar 18 by Rafael Suvanto (1909-1940) at Turku, Finland.

2044 Wirt
Discovered 1950 Nov 8 by Carl A. Wirtanen (1910-1990) at Mount Hamilton, California.

2246 Bowell
Discovered 1979 Dec 14 by Edward L. G. Bowell (1943-2023) at Anderson Mesa, Arizona.

3019 Kulin
Discovered 1940 Jan 7 by György Kulin (1905-1989) at Budapest, Hungary.

5540 Smirnova
Discovered 1971 Aug 30 by Tamara Mikhajlovna Smirnova (1935-2001) at Nauchnyj, Crimea.

5900 Jensen
Discovered 1986 Oct 3 by Poul B. Jensen (?-) at Brorfelde, Denmark.

19911 Rigaux
Discovered 1933 Mar 26 by Fernand Rigaux (1905-1962) at Uccle, Belgium.

96747 Crespodasilva
Discovered 1999 Aug 16 by Lucy d’Escoffier Crespo da Silva (1978-2000) at Westford, Massachusetts.

Incidentally, here are the three most prolific minor planet discoverers that still have an unnamed minor planet discovery that could be named after them. There are, of course, many others who deserve this honor.

Eleanor F. Helin (1932-2009)
Even though 3267 Glo is named after her nickname “Glo”, why not designate one of her discoveries as Helin or Eleanor Helin or Eleanorhelin? There are many still available, beginning with 5131 (1990 BG).

Carolyn Shoemaker (1929-2021)
Though 4446 Carolyn is named after her, why not designate one of her discoveries as Carolyn Shoemaker or Carolynshoemaker? There are many still available, beginning with 48576 (1994 NN2).

Gary Hug (1950-)
There are many still available, including 32165 (1998 FS92).

Like Sun, Like Moon

The Earth orbits the Sun once every 365.256363 (mean solar) days relative to the distant stars.  The Earth’s orbital speed ranges from 18.2 miles per second at aphelion, around July 4th, to 18.8 miles per second at perihelion, around January 3rd.  In units we’re perhaps more familiar with, that’s 65,518 mph at aphelion and 67,741 mph at perihelion. That’s a difference of 2,223 miles per hour!

As we are on a spinning globe, the direction towards which the Earth is orbiting is different at different times of the day.  When the Sun crosses the celestial meridian, due south, at its highest point in the sky around noon (1:00 p.m. daylight time), the Earth is orbiting towards your right (west) as you are facing south. Since the Earth is orbiting towards the west, the Sun appears to move towards the east, relative to the background stars—if we could see them during the day.  Since there are 360° in a circle and the Earth orbits the Sun in 365.256363 days (therefore the Sun appears to go around the Earth once every 365.256363 days relative to the background stars), the Sun’s average angular velocity eastward relative to the background stars is 360°/365.256363 days = 0.9856° per day.

The constellations through which the Sun moves are called the zodiacal constellations, and historically the zodiac contained 12 constellations, the same number as the number of months in a year.  But Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte (1882-1955) drew up the 88 constellation boundaries we use today, approved by the IAU in 1930, so now the Sun spends a few days each year in the non-zodiacal constellation Ophiuchus, the Serpent Bearer. Furthermore, because the Earth’s axis is precessing, the calendar dates during which the Sun is in a particular zodiacal constellation is gradually getting later.

Astrologically, each zodiacal constellation has a width of 30° (360° / 12 constellations = 30° per constellation).  But, of course, the constellations are different sizes and shapes, so astronomically the number of days the Sun spends in each constellation varies. Here is the situation at present.

Constellation

Description

Sun Travel Dates

Capricornus

Sea Goat

Jan 19 through Feb 16

Aquarius

Water Bearer

Feb 16 through Mar 12

Pisces

The Fish

Mar 12 through Apr 18

Aries

The Ram

Apr 18 through May 14

Taurus

The Bull

May 14 through Jun 21

Gemini

The Twins

Jun 21 through Jul 20

Cancer

The Crab

Jul 20 through Aug 10

Leo

The Lion

Aug 10 through Sep 16

Virgo

The Virgin

Sep 16 through Oct 31

Libra

The Scales

Oct 31 through Nov 23

Scorpius

The Scorpion

Nov 23 through Nov 29

Ophiuchus

Serpent Bearer

Nov 29 through Dec 18

Sagittarius

The Archer

Dec 18 through Jan 19

The apparent path the Sun takes across the sky relative to the background stars through these 13 constellations is called the ecliptic.  A little contemplation, aided perhaps by a drawing, will convince you that the ecliptic is also the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the Sun.  The Moon never strays very far from the ecliptic in our sky, since its orbital plane around the Earth is inclined at a modest angle of 5.16° relative to the Earth’s orbital plane around the Sun.  But, relative to the Earth’s equatorial plane, the inclination of the Moon’s orbit varies between 18.28° and 28.60° over 18.6 years as the line of intersection between the Moon’s orbital plane and the ecliptic plane precesses westward along the ecliptic due to the gravitational tug of war the Earth and the Sun exert on the Moon as it moves through space.  This steep inclination to the equatorial plane is very unusual for such a large moon.  In fact, all four satellites in our solar system that are larger than our Moon (Ganymede, Titan, Callisto, and Io) and the one that is slightly smaller (Europa) all orbit in a plane that is inclined less than 1/2° from the equatorial plane of their host planet (Jupiter and Saturn).

Since the Moon is never farther than 5.16° from the ecliptic, its apparent motion through our sky as it orbits the Earth mimics that of the Sun, only the Moon’s angular speed is over 13 times faster, completing its circuit of the sky every 27.321662 days, relative to the distant stars.  Thus the Moon moves a little over 13° eastward every day, or about 1/2° per hour.  Since the angular diameter of the Moon is also about 1/2°, we can easily remember that the Moon moves its own diameter eastward relative to the stars every hour.  Of course, superimposed on this motion is the 27-times-faster-yet motion of the Moon and stars westward as the Earth rotates towards the east.

Now, take a look at the following table and see how the Moon’s motion mimics that of the Sun throughout the month, and throughout the year.

 

——— Moon’s Phase and Path ———

Date

Sun’s Path

New

FQ

Full

LQ

Mar 20

EQ

EQ

High

EQ

Low

Jun 21

High

High

EQ

Low

EQ

Sep 22

EQ

EQ

Low

EQ

High

Dec 21

Low

Low

EQ

High

EQ

New = New Moon

near the Sun

FQ = First Quarter

90° east of the Sun

Full = Full Moon

180°, opposite the Sun

LQ = Last Quarter

90° west of the Sun

EQ

= crosses the celestial equator heading north

High

= rides high (north) across the sky

EQ

= crosses the celestial equator heading south

Low

= rides low (south) across the sky

So, if you aren’t already doing so, take note of how the Moon moves across the sky at different phases and times of the year.  For example, notice how the full moon (nearest the summer solstice) on June 27/28 rides low in the south across the sky.  You’ll note the entry for the “Jun 21” row and “Full” column is “Low”.  And, the Sun entry for that date is “High”.  See, it works!