Asteroids and Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) Report

Did you know, as of March 2025, there were more than 1.4 million non-cometary small solar-system bodies (SSSBs) that have been observed in our solar system, of which 793,066 of them are registered and their orbits computed?

These include asteroids, minor planets and asteroid-comet hybrids, and their satellites. Of those, 25,252 have been named. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group Small Bodies Nomenclature (WGSBN) is in charge of this, and there are strict protocols to be followed, with guidelines and prescribed naming conventions.

Basically, however, these non-cometary small bodies may be named by their discoverers, once their orbits have been established, and the Minor Planets Centre (MPC) has allocated a numerical number.

Whereas, the name is assigned for identification purposes, and in most cases is a third identifier, other than the numerical number, and designation of each SSSB – to the discoverer the name is for commemoration purposes, and therein lies the significance of this.

Since the early 1800s, when small bodies first started being discovered, astronomers followed the tradition (as with planets) to name asteroids after Greek or Roman mythological deities. Soon afterwards, however, as more and more asteroids were being discovered, this tradition of naming convention fell away.

These days it is possible to find just about any name for an asteroid – from ‘beer’, to ‘grass’, to ‘reiki’ – and everything else in-between, pretty much like personalised registration plates on cars lately.

You might even find an asteroid that has been named after your own name, and these are known as Personal Named Asteroids (PNAs).

Astrologically, there is growing evidence of the correlation between named asteroids, as more and more are being discovered and named, and that of a natal chart and the life history of a native, as well as life events in world history. Alex Miller, of Alex Miller Asteroids, calls it “celestial nomenclature synchronicity”.

A few pointers need to be kept in mind when working with asteroids astrologically: gender variants may apply – i.e. using male for female forms of a name, or vice versa; cognates, similar spelling, homophones, and homonyms, etc. may all be of relevant importance and applicable.

It is at least curiously interesting, and at most downright uncanny, how asteroids ‘colour-in’ an astrological chart, and bring the full story to life.

Want to find out more about asteroids in your own personal chart, or a life event in particular?