Discovery Circumstances

<!DOCTYPE html> <html class="no-js" lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8" /> <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge" /> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /> <link rel="icon" href="data:;base64,iVBORw0KGgo=" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/font-awesome.min.css" />  <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/dataTables.bootstrap.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/responsive.bootstrap.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/styles.css" /> <title>Discovery Circumstances</title> </head> <body> <a class="sr-only sr-only-focusable" href="#main_content">Skip Navigation</a> <div id="banner" class="top-banner"> <img class="img-responsive banner" src="/images/ssd_banner.png" alt="banner" /> <img class="img-responsive banner-small" src="/images/ssd_banner_small.png" alt="banner" /> <img src="/images/logo_nasa_trio.png" alt="Trio-Logo" class="overlay-trilogo" /> <a id="link_nasa" class="hide-ext-link" href="https://www.nasa.gov/" 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id="main_content" tabindex="-1" class="container-fluid hide-tabindex">   <noscript> <div class="alert alert-danger"> <h4>Please enable JavaScript for this website.</h4> <p> This website makes extensive use of JavaScript. The top menus will not function without it and most tools will also not work. </p> <p> If you do not know how to enable JavaScript in your web browser, you should be able find instructions by searching the web for "enable javascript in my browser" (or similar). </p> </div> </noscript> <h1 class="no-top-margin">Discovery Circumstances</h1> <p>Discovery circumstances are available for selected comets and numbered asteroids, most planetary satellites, and recently discovered planets.</p> <h2 id="small-bodies">Small Bodies</h2> <p>Comet and asteroid discovery circumstances are available via the <a href="/tools/sbdb_lookup.html">Small-Body Database Lookup</a> tool where you can specify the object of interest and then scroll down to the “Discovery Circumstances” section and click on “show”. Here’s an example for asteroid <a href="/tools/sbdb_lookup.html#/?sstr=bennu&view=D">101955 Bennu</a>.</p> <p>Please note that discovery data are available <strong>only for numbered asteroids and selected comets</strong>. These data include the date of discovery, who discovered the object, and where it was discovered. In addition, for recently named asteroids, the citation issued for their IAU name is available.</p> <h2 id="planetary-satellites">Planetary Satellites</h2> <p><a href="/sats/discovery.html">Planetary satellite discovery circumstances</a> are available in a separate table which includes the satellite provisional designation, IAU number (if assigned), IAU name (if assigned), year of discovery, a list of discoverers, and references (where known).</p> <h2 id="planets">Planets</h2> <p>Most of the planets (including the Earth’s moon) have been known to mankind since ancient times. The planets beyond Saturn were discovered in more recent times. These <a href="/planets/discovery.html">planetary discovery circumstance</a> are avilable on a separate page.</p>  <div id="footer" class="container-fluid footer"> <div class="row"> <div class="col-sm-5 col-xs-12"> <img class="ssd-logo" src="/images/ssd_logo.png" alt="SSD Logo" /> </div> <div class="col-sm-3 col-xs-12"> <div class="link-inv"> <a href="/sitemap.html"><i class="fa-fw fa fa-list-alt"></i> Site Map</a> </div> <div class="link-inv"> <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/caltechjpl-privacy-policies-and-important-notices"><i class="fa-fw fa fa-user-secret"></i> Privacy</a> </div> <div class="link-inv"> <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/jpl-image-use-policy"><i class="fa-fw fa fa-picture-o"></i> Image Policy</a> </div> </div> <div class="col-sm-4 col-xs-12"> <div class=" link-inv"> <a href="/contact/"><i class="fa-fw fa fa-envelope"></i> Contact Us</a> </div> <div class="text-smaller"> <span class="footer-label text-nowrap">Site Manager:</span> <span class="text-nowrap">Ryan Park</span> </div> <div class="text-smaller2"> <span class="footer-label text-nowrap">Site Design:</span> <span class="text-nowrap">Alan B. 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Discovery Circumstances