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What do the names of asteroids mean?
Most Near Earth Asteroids are given a designation rather than a name. The designation starts with the year of discovery which is then followed by two letters to indicate the half month of the discovery. If more than one asteroid is discovered in the half month the two letters are followed by a number. Asteroid 2002AA3, would therefore be the third asteroid discovered in the first half of January 2002.
Some asteroids are also assigned a proper name that is suggested by the discoverer. Many of the first asteroids to be discovered have such names. These have to be approved by the International Astronomical Union and businesses offering to sell asteroid names do not allocate official names.
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