Marilyn's Photos - Nov 10 2026 - Big Moon Little Moon
I should know more about naming space things. How did the small asteroid temporarily rotating around our planet until December get its name - 2026 QQ8. Easy enough to guess the first part of the name - year of discovery. Then the first letter indicates the half-month of discovery. So Q equals the second half of August. And then the second letter is the sequential order of discovery within the half-month. So it was the eighth asteroid catalogued. If there are more than 25 objects found in the half-month, a numerical subscript is added to show how many times the 25-letter alphabet has cycled. Notice the alphabet used is 25 letters. This system skips the letter I (i) to avoid visual confusion with the number 1 or Roman numeral I - doesn't that make you wonder about PhDs skills. OK they have many languages to consider. This system was developed by the International Astronomical Union. And I find out that historically the letter J was skipped instead of I for similar typographical and linguistic reasons.
So our near-Earth asteroid is 1 to 2 metres across and has mini-moon status. It has been in Earth's gravity since April and was discovered in August. It had to be confirmed as a natural space rock rather than space junk. After it finishes its orbit with us it will "drift back" into an independent path around the Sun.
The general public is allowed to provide name suggestions for newly-discovered planets - that started in 2013. Ivan Semeniuk wrote a Globe and Mail article earlier this year about this - an asteroid was officially named after him. Asteroid (20045) Semeniuk. His decades of work in public science education and space journalism were the reasons that the name was approved.
Big moon with little stars. This was a wreath at last year's Fantasy of Trees.
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