Dictionary of Minor Planet Names, fifth edition, is
the official reference for the field of the IAU, which serves as the
internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to
celestial bodies and any surface features on them. The accelerating
rate of the discovery of minor planets has not only made a new edition
of this established compendium necessary but has also significantly
altered its scope: this thoroughly revised edition concentrates on the
approximately 10,000 minor planets that carry a name. It provides
authoritative information about the basis for all names of minor
planets. In addition to being of practical value for identification
purposes, this collection provides a most interesting historical
insight into the work of those astronomers who over two centuries
vested their affinities in a rich and colorful variety of ingenious
names, from heavenly goddesses to more prosaic constructions. The fifth
edition serves as the primary reference, with plans for supplementary
booklets with newly named bodies to be issued every three years.