Contact
The WGSBN can be contacted at
contact@wgsbn-iau.org.
Problems with the website should be reported to secretary@wgsbn-iau.org.
Rotating Members Interest Form
The form for IAU members to register interest in becoming Rotating Members of the WGSBN in future years is
now available.
Name Proposal Link
Discoverers can use this link to access the name proposal
site. Registration is required to access the site. Discoverers who require
access should request access.
Naming Guidelines
Comet Naming Guidelines
Minor Planet Naming Guidelines
(Translations)
Discoverer Checking Status
Information on the process of checking the discovery circumstances of the numbered minor planets.
"Missing" Observation Submissions
Information on observations for which the MPC does not seem to have a copy of the submission.
Support This Site
Information on how you can support the operation of this website.
Members
There are 15 members of the WGSBN, 11 of whom are voting members. The other four members, who are ex-officio, are representatives for the IAU WG Planetary System Nomenclature and the Minor Planet Center, as well
as the IAU President and General Secretary.
The current members of the WGSBN are listed below:
- Jana Tichá, Chair
- Keith Noll, Vice-Chair
- Gareth Williams, Secretary
- Yuliya Chernetenko
- Romina Paula Di Sisto (Rotating Member)
- Julio Fernández
- Daniel Green
- Pam Kilmartin
- Syuichi Nakano
- Carrie Nugent
- Zhao Haibin (Rotating Member)
- Willy Benz, ex-officio (IAU President)
- Diana Worrall, ex-officio (IAU General Secretary)
- Rita Schulz, ex-officio (WGPSN)
- Peter Vereš, ex-officio (MPC)
Statistics
There are currently 25641
named minor planets.
The WGSBN is a Working Group (WG) of the
International Astronomical Union (IAU)
and is responsible for assigning names to minor planets, comets and satellites of minor planets. It
is a functional WG, which means that it exists beyond the regular
three-year lifespan of IAU WGs.
News
The six most recent news items are listed below. The complete archive of news items is
here.
October 2: WGSBN Bulletin 5, #22 Issued
WGSBN Bulletin 5, #22 has been
issued. This issue contains only errata and corrections to the discovery circumstances of numbered minor planets.
There are no new names for minor planets in this batch.
September 22: WGSBN Bulletin 5, #21 Issued
WGSBN Bulletin 5, #21 has been
issued, containing new names for 55 minor planets.
NOTE: An updated PDF has been posted [Sept. 23 @ 02:09].
September 1: WGSBN Bulletin 5, #20 Issued
WGSBN Bulletin 5, #20 has been
issued, containing new names for 26 minor planets.
UPDATE: While the two files of names and citations were valid JSON, there was a minor inconsistency that has been corrected. New versions are on line: there is no difference in the data content between old and new files.
August 11: WGSBN Bulletin 5, #19 Issued
WGSBN Bulletin 5, #19 has been
issued, containing new names for 52 minor planets.
August 9: Names Assigned to Six Currently-Unnamed Comets
The WGSBN has assigned names to the following unnamed comets:
Designation | Name | ASCII name |
P/2009 KF37 | Palomar | |
P/2010 KG43 | WISE-LINEAR | |
P/2010 LH155 | WISE-PANSTARRS | |
C/2012 KA51 | Palomar | |
C/2023 RS61 | PANSTARRS | |
C/2025 L2 | MAPS | |
ASCII versions of names are shown only when the name contains accented characters.
August 2: WGSBN Bulletin 5, #18 Issued
WGSBN Bulletin 5, #18 has been
issued. This issue contains only errata and corrections to the discovery circumstances of numbered minor planets.
There are no new names for minor planets in this batch.
Sign Up For New Bulletin Alerts
Enter an e-mail address to receive notifications of the availability of new
issues of the WGSBN Bulletin.
You will receive a message at the offered e-mail address containing a link
that you must click in order to activate or cancel your subscription.
WGSBN Bulletins
Current and past issues of the
WGSBN Bulletin are available below,
as well as
on the IAU website (note that the dates displayed on the IAU page are the dates they were posted there, not [necessarily] when they were published). [NOTE: the link to the IAU copy of the issues is currently non-functional due to the IAU site's redesign.]
The latest issue is here and links
to older issues are here.
For convenience, links to the issues from the most recent volume are listed below:
2025
- Volume 5, #22 (2025 Oct. 2)
- Volume 5, #21 (2025 Sept. 22)
- Volume 5, #20 (2025 Sept. 1)
- Volume 5, #19 (2025 Aug. 11)
- Volume 5, #18 (2025 Aug. 2)
- Volume 5, #17 (2025 July 21)
- Volume 5, #16 (2025 July 5)
- Volume 5, #15 (2025 June 30)
- Volume 5, #14 (2025 June 14)
- Volume 5, #13 (2025 June 13)
- Volume 5, #12 (2025 June 11)
- Volume 5, #11 (2025 June 9)
- Volume 5, #10 (2025 May 29)
- Volume 5, #9 (2025 May 19)
- Volume 5, #8 (2025 May 5)
- Volume 5, #7 (2025 Apr. 28)
- Volume 5, #6 (2025 Apr. 13)
- Volume 5, #5 (2025 Apr. 7)
- Volume 5, #4 (2025 Mar. 17)
- Volume 5, #3 (2025 Feb. 24)
- Volume 5, #2 (2025 Feb. 3)
- Volume 5, #1 (2025 Jan. 13)
Data Files
Links to JSON files associated with each
WGSBN Bulletin are available below.
The latest set of files are here (UTF-8 only) or here (UTF-8 + HTML), and links
to older files are here.
For convenience, links to the files from the most recent volume are listed below:
2025
- Volume 5, #21 UTF-8 only UTF-8 + HTML (2025 Sept. 22)
- Volume 5, #20 UTF-8 only UTF-8 + HTML (2025 Sept. 1)
- Volume 5, #19 UTF-8 only UTF-8 + HTML (2025 Aug. 11)
- Volume 5, #17 UTF-8 only UTF-8 + HTML (2025 Aug. 2)
- Volume 5, #15 UTF-8 only UTF-8 + HTML (2025 July 21)
- Volume 5, #11 UTF-8 only UTF-8 + HTML (2025 July 5)
- Volume 5, #9 UTF-8 only UTF-8 + HTML (2025 June 30)
- Volume 5, #7 UTF-8 only UTF-8 + HTML (2025 June 14)
- Volume 5, #5 UTF-8 only UTF-8 + HTML (2025 June 13)
- Volume 5, #4 UTF-8 only UTF-8 + HTML (2025 June 11)
- Volume 5, #3 UTF-8 only UTF-8 + HTML (2025 June 9)
- Volume 5, #2 UTF-8 only UTF-8 + HTML (2025 May 29)
- Volume 5, #1 UTF-8 only UTF-8 + HTML (2025 May 19)
Corrigenda Files
Links to JSON files associated with corrigenda for the errata listed in the
WGSBN Bulletin are available below.
The latest file is here and links
to older files are here.
For convenience, links to the most recent corrigenda files are listed below:
2025
- Volume 5, #22 (2025 Oct. 2)
- Volume 5, #21 (2025 Sept. 22)
- Volume 5, #20 (2025 Sept. 1)
- Volume 5, #19 (2025 Aug. 11)
- Volume 5, #18 (2025 Aug. 2)
- Volume 5, #17 (2025 July 21)
- Volume 5, #16 (2025 July 5)
- Volume 5, #15 (2025 June 30)
- Volume 5, #14 (2025 June 14)
- Volume 5, #13 (2025 June 13)
- Volume 5, #12 (2025 June 11)
- Volume 5, #11 (2025 June 9)
- Volume 5, #10 (2025 May 29)
- Volume 5, #9 (2025 May 19)
- Volume 5, #8 (2025 May 5)
- Volume 5, #7 (2025 Apr. 28)
- Volume 5, #6 (2025 Apr. 13)
- Volume 5, #5 (2025 Apr. 7)
- Volume 5, #4 (2025 Mar. 17)
- Volume 5, #3 (2025 Feb. 24)
- Volume 5, #2 (2025 Feb. 3)
- Volume 5, #1 (2025 Jan. 13)
Documentation
Information on the format and information content of the data files on the WG's website
is available.
This page also contains links to various WG documents involving nomenclature issues.
Problem E-Mail Addresses
Information on problem e-mails in the list of addresses used for notification of new issues
is available.
Printed WGSBN Bulletin Yearbooks
Printed yearbooks of the
WGSBN Bulletin are published by
WGSBN Publishing, a specialist scientific publisher.