So
As a qualified "idolize clan"
Do you know
what kind of celestial body an asteroid is?
what rules do they follow for numbering and naming?
Let's get to know the asteroid
"Asteroid" and "Planet". Their names are only one word apart, but they are essentially different. The mass of the planet is large, and it can make its shape reach "hydrostatic balance" by gravity. Simply put, it is a sphere with almost perfect shape, and it can also monopolize an orbit. Asteroids, on the other hand, have irregular shapes. Every asteroid shares an orbit with many friends.
in astronomy, the name "asteroid" is used to refer to the small celestial bodies in the solar system that are distributed in the inner solar system (bounded by Jupiter's orbit) and orbit around the sun.
Most asteroids are distributed in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Inside the asteroid belt, there are near-earth asteroids close to the earth; Outside the asteroid belt, there are Trojan asteroids in Jupiter's orbit, occupying Jupiter's "saddle" and "horse" positions. These small celestial bodies are remnants of the early evolution of the solar system, many of which are older than most rocks on earth.
the distribution of asteroids in the inner solar system, from NASA
Asteroids are really "small"
The biggest feature of asteroids is "small". The total mass of all the celestial bodies in the asteroid belt is only 3% of the mass of the moon, and nearly half of this 3% is shared by the largest "Big Four" in the asteroid belt, namely Ceres, Vesta, Wisdom and Kansei, and the other millions of asteroids add up to be equivalent to these four giants. Considering that the width of the asteroid belt is nearly 1.5 astronomical units, which is wider than the distance between the earth and the sun, such a small mass is distributed in such a vast space that the asteroid belt is actually empty, and the distance between asteroids is far greater than their own size.
The following picture shows the comparison of the sizes of Vesta, Ceres and the moon:
When Vesta is compared with other asteroids, the painting style is like this:
The source of the picture is NASA/JPL-Caltech/JAXA/ESA
The origin of asteroid naming
The largest one in the asteroid belt is naturally the first one. It was discovered by Italian astronomer Piazi on the first day of the 19th century, that is, on January 1st, 181. According to the order of discovery, it became the No.1 asteroid. Although it has been classified as a dwarf planet, it still retains this number.
The name of the asteroid was named by the discoverer, and Piazi named it Ceres after the goddess of harvest in Roman mythology. In the next few years, pallas athena No.2, Vesta No.3 and Vesta No.4 were discovered one after another, and after several decades, it was not until 1845 that Yi Shenxing was discovered again. After the discovery of Justice Star 15, people began to realize that these small celestial bodies formed a ring in the solar system. Since then, more asteroids have quickly entered people's field of vision.
When the first dozens of asteroids were discovered, people patiently designed representative symbols for each asteroid according to myths. For example, Ceres is the sickle of the goddess of harvest, Wisdom is Athena's spear, Rainbow is a rainbow with a star, and Flora draws a rose.
But with the discovery of more asteroids, some people finally realize that this is not possible.
at this rate, we have to invent a whole set of hieroglyphs.
So now, only more than 2 asteroids have their own symbols, and no one uses them anymore.
In fact, not only are there not enough symbols, but even the mythical characters are not enough soon.
The first mortal name used on an asteroid was No.45, Eugenia, named after the queen of Charles Louis Napolé on Bonaparte. There was an unwritten rule in the early days that the name of an asteroid must be a feminine name. German naturalist alexander von humboldt was the first man to be named after an asteroid, but the 54th asteroid was still written as the feminine "54 Alexandra". This "hidden rule" was not broken until after hundreds of asteroids.
how to name an asteroid
nowadays, when an asteroid is discovered, it will first get a temporary number according to the reporting time, which consists of the year number, the letter representing the month and the ranking in the time period. For example, Wu Weiren's star, whose temporary number is 21 GK126, represents that it is the 315th asteroid reported in the first half of April 21. Then, when the orbit of this asteroid is determined and it is confirmed that it is not a false alarm, a permanent number will be obtained. For example, the permanent number of Wu Weiren's star is 28188. At this time, the discoverer can submit naming materials to the Asteroid Naming Committee, which will be promulgated in the Asteroid Bulletin after approval.
The discoverer needs to meet the following requirements when naming asteroids in the asteroid belt:
The name should not be too long and should not exceed 16 English characters;
The proposed name is preferably a word;
naming cannot be aggressive;
It should not be too close to the existing asteroid name or satellite name;
political and military events or figures can only be used for the naming of asteroids after 1 years of events or 1 years of people's death;
in addition, obvious commercial naming cannot be involved.
China space stars shining in space
With the continuous development of telescope survey technology, a large number of asteroids are discovered every month, and the speed of naming asteroids is far behind the speed of discovery. According to the website of the Asteroid Center of the International Astronomical Union, as of the end of July this year, more than 99, asteroids have been discovered, and only about 3% of them have been officially named. The vast majority of asteroids are still waiting for their discoverers to exercise their naming rights.
Asteroids have all kinds of names, including scientists, institutions, historical events, writers, musicians, dancers, historical celebrities, mythical gardens and famous mountains, animals and plants, trees and flowers, and so on. Before Academician Wu Weiren, we had many astronautics named asteroids, including Qian Xuesen, Sun Jiadong, Luan Enjie, Ouyang Ziyuan, Ye Peijian, Nanren East and so on, and their names were written in the vast starry sky forever.
Today, every little friend who cares about China's space flight and loves China's space flight is once again incarnated as a "idolize family" and feels the joy of chasing "stars". We are not chasing the stars in the entertainment circle, but the astronauts in China and the "Wu Weiren" star in space.