List of unnumbered minor planets

Unnumbered minor planets (single-opposition): 129,103 bodies (9.9%)Unnumbered minor planets (multiple-opposition): 547,652 bodies (42.0%)Numbered minor planets: 623,827 bodies (47.8%)Comets: 4,586 bodies (0.4%)
Breakdown of 1,304,970 small bodies of the Solar System:[1][a]
  129,103 single-opposition MPs
  547,652 multiple-opposition MPs
  623,827 numbered MPs
  4,586 comets

The following is a list of unnumbered minor planets in chronological order of their principal provisional designation. Contrary to their numbered counterparts, unnumbered minor planets have a poorly determined orbit due to insufficient observational data. This also includes lost minor planets which have not been observed for many years, or even decades. As of August 2023, the Minor Planet Center (MPC) accounts for 676,755 unnumbered minor planets which represent 52% of the overall minor planet population.[1][a] Unnumbered minor planets can be further divided into 129,103 single-opposition objects with short observation arcs, prone to mismatch and loss, and 547,652 objects that have been observed multiple times during opposition, when astrometric conditions are most favorable.[1] The JPL Small-Body Database gives a running total of 676,786 unnumbered minor planets.[2][a]

The tables below contain 95 objects with a principal designation assigned between 1927 and 1993. Additional partial lists cover the period from 1994 to 2004.[a] Unnumbered minor planets detected after 2004 are not listed due to their large number (see statistics). The orbital uncertainty parameter (U) ranges from low ("0") to very high ("9"). For some single-opposition objects no numeric uncertainty is given ("–" and "E"), latter indicating an estimated, rather than determined orbital eccentricity. Furthermore, a color code is used to indicate a body's basic dynamical classification, with additional information given in columns "class" and "description and notes" (especially for near-Earth objects, Jupiter trojans and distant objects).[1][3][4] If available, mean diameters are taken from the latest NEOWISE publication,[5] or, if not available, estimated based on an object's absolute magnitude and displayed in italics.[6]

In the Minor Planet Circular from July 2018, the MPC announced that changes in their data processing pipeline will enable numberings to occur more frequently. It is stated that the new method will clear the backlog of unnumbered minor planets with an already well-established orbit without changing the criteria for numbering. Previously, this was not possible because of the difficulty of determining who was the discoverer.[7] Despite this announcement, however, the total of unnumbered minor planets has since significantly increased rather than decreased.

  1. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference MPCORB was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference JPL-body-count was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference MPC-JupiterTrojans was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference johnstonsarchive-TNO-list was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference PDS-NEOWISE-diameters was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference CNEOS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference MPC-Circulars-Editorial-Notice was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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