There are probably a few thousand astronomical objects named after people. These include the names of a few thousand asteroids and hundreds of comets. Also, many topological features on solar system bodies have been named after people, including many hundreds of craters on the Moon, Mars and other planets and satellites. In addition to craters there are also various other topological features such as mountains, valleys, ridges on the Moon and other bodies which are also named after people. Finally, a very few stars are named after people (according to the IAU), such as Barnard's star. Thus this list is somewhat incomplete. (Star-registry companies keep lists of stars they claim to have named after people. The IAU does not recognize those claims.)
The list does not include astronomical objects named after mythological or fictional characters.
- For other lists of eponyms (names derived from people) see eponym.
- For a list of eponyms sorted by names see List of eponyms.
- Comets and asteroids (see links below)
- Maxwell Montes – James Clerk Maxwell (mountain on Venus)
- Several stars named after people
Famous quotes containing the words list of, list, objects, named and/or people:
“Feminism is an entire world view or gestalt, not just a laundry list of women’s issues.”
—Charlotte Bunch (b. 1944)
“Religious literature has eminent examples, and if we run over our private list of poets, critics, philanthropists and philosophers, we shall find them infected with this dropsy and elephantiasis, which we ought to have tapped.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I think of consciousness as a bottomless lake, whose waters seem transparent, yet into which we can clearly see but a little way. But in this water there are countless objects at different depths; and certain influences will give certain kinds of those objects an upward influence which may be intense enough and continue long enough to bring them into the upper visible layer. After the impulse ceases they commence to sink downwards.”
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
“Hast thou named all the birds without a gun?
Loved the wood rose, and left it on its stalk?
At rich men’s tables eaten bread and pulse?
Unarmed, faced danger with a heart of trust?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Laws can be wrong and laws can be cruel. And the people who live only by the law are both wrong and cruel.”
—Ardel Wray. Mark Robson. Thea (Ellen Drew)