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To: SunkenCiv

2012 VP113

FYI - the “VP” part of the name is there to honor Biden


11 posted on 04/01/2014 6:34:27 AM PDT by kidd
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To: kidd

No, the VP part of the name denotes when it was found and in what order. V means it was discovered in the first half of November 2012 (though this doesn’t correspond to the earliest observation; after discovery astronomers will use the orbit information to go back through old data to see if they missed it in images taken years before). P113 is the order in which it was discovered within that timeframe. Here is the information about the systematic naming system:
http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/info/OldDesDoc.html
Because it happened to be VP113, the nickname they gave for it was “Biden” because he is the current VP. That it happened to be VP was just random and has to do with the order in which it was discovered. It could have just as easily been V followed by any letter.


14 posted on 04/01/2014 8:29:36 AM PDT by messierhunter
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To: kidd

15 posted on 04/01/2014 8:48:37 AM PDT by mikrofon (The farther away, the better ;)
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