"Gareth V. Williams" wrote in
:

In sci.astro Henry Spencer wrote:
: In article ,
: William C. Keel wrote:
: Sep 06 - Asteroid 2991 Bilbo Closest Approach To Earth (1.000
: AU)
: Bagginses agains. Pfui.
:
:Clear favoritism. Quick perusal of thee asteroid name list turns up
:not a single Frodo, Samwise, Gollum, Aragorn, or Gimli...

: Check the derivation of the name before jumping to conclusions. It
: may not be from the Tolkien character. If memory serves, "Bilbo" and
: variants on it are sometimes seen as Italian surnames.

Nope, (2991) Bilbo is named for Bilbo Baggins. I should know, I did
the naming for that object.

:...Now. if one of the ones I
:occasionally come across were still unnamed... I don't know of
:any rules requiring that the mythological names be of actually
:ancient origin.

: Asteroid names don't have to be mythological at all. There's one
: named after Frank Zappa, for example. Subject to a few restrictions
: -- I

(3834) Zappafrank.

: believe you can't name them after living people, in particular -- and

Oh dear, I must be dead then: (3202) Graff. That'll be a shock to
my
wife! :-)


Not dead... just mythical! g