New IAU-named asteroids
The current comprehensive listing of IAU-named asteroids has been updated here with the release of WGSBN Bulletin Vol. 5, No. 15 (2025-06-30). There are 46 new namings. Two of particular interest to me - 55565 Aya (2002 AW197), a TNO with a 324.49 yr. cycle, named after the goddess of the dawn in Akkadian mythology. Aya was the consort of the Sun god, Shamash. The other is 208996 Achlys (2003 AZ84), a TNO with a 249.06 yr. cycle, a personification of sorrow and grief described in the Greek epic poem, the Shield of Heracles. It is also used by Homer in the Iliad to describe the mist that covers the eyes of the dying.
We have four sorts - MPC No., Alphabetical, Period (yrs.) and Inclination. There are now four named objects with an inclination > 90°, which means they have a retrograde (Rx) orbit around the Sun. 20461 Dioretsa was the first Rx asteroid/centaur (discovered in 1999), with the befitting name of asteroid spelled backwards. Astronomers generally regard these objects as unnatural or unoriginal to the rest of the Solar System, perhaps having been captured long ago in a close encounter with our as-yet-undiscovered companion star system “Nemesis” or from the Oort Cloud.
As of the current tally, there are 811,552 MPC-numbered objects (excluding comets), 27 of them that are Rx, of which four are named (shown below). How many might receive names, we have no idea. We can track any of these, though, for astrologers interested who want an ephemeris.
