Introduction

Abstract

In a period when discoveries flourish, more and more minor planets are being discovered; it is inevitable that this dictionary can be no more than an inventory of the situation at this moment. A compilation of this nature is by definition bound to be out of date before it appears in print. There are, however, two reasons that justify this effort. After having numbered and named the 7000th minor planet, a historic goal was achieved. It seems reasonable to avail ourselves of this opportunity to summarize an interesting aspect of this narrow branch of astronomy during the past two centuries. The second reason is purely pragmatic: this seems to be the last chance to handle the enormous amount of minor-planet data in one volume.