ForumIAS announcing GS Foundation Program for UPSC CSE 2025-26 from 19 April. Click Here for more information.
ForumIAS Answer Writing Focus Group (AWFG) for Mains 2024 commencing from 24th June 2024. The Entrance Test for the program will be held on 28th April 2024 at 9 AM. To know more about the program visit: https://forumias.com/blog/awfg2024
News: International Astronomical Union (IAU) has named a minor planet after Indian musician Pandit Jasraj. He’s the first Indian musician to receive this honour.
Facts:
- Minor planet 2006 VP32 (number -300128), has been named ‘Panditjasraj.’
- The minor planet is an asteroid. It traverses the cosmos between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
- It was discovered on November 11, 2006 by the Catalina Sky Survey, whose telescopes are based in Arizona in the United States.
Additional Information:
Minor Planets:
- Minor planet is a term used to refer to a celestial object that is not a planet or comet which orbits the Sun.
- Minor planets can be dwarf planets, asteroids, Trojans, centaurs, Kuiper belt objects, and other trans-Neptunian objects.
- Ceres, found in 1801, was the first minor planet discovered. It is a dwarf planet.
- As of September, there are 5, 41,131 numbered minor planets of a total of 79, 70, 78 observed bodies, with the rest being unnumbered minor planets.
| Celestial Object | Description |
| Dwarf Planets | It is a planetary-mass object that does not dominate its region of space (as a true planet does) and is not a satellite. Ex: Pluto, Eris |
| Asteroid | They are small, rocky objects that orbit the sun. They are smaller than a planet, but they are larger than meteoroids. |
| Trojan | It is a small celestial body that shares the orbit of a larger one. Trojans can share the orbits of planets or of large moons. |
| Centaurs | They are small Solar System bodies with a semi-major axis between those of the outer planets. |
| Kuiper Belt Object | Objects found in Kuiper Belt. Kuiper belt, also called the Edgeworth–Kuiper belt, is a circumstellar disc in the outer Solar System, extending from the orbit of Neptune (at 30 AU) to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. |
International Astronomical Union
- It is an international association of professional astronomers.
- Its mission is to promote and safeguard the science of astronomy in all its aspects, including research, communication, education and development, through international cooperation.
- It was founded in 1919. It is headquartered in Paris, France.
