P–L

In asteroid naming, the designation P–L stands for Palomar–Leiden, named after Palomar Observatory and Leiden Observatory, the observatories at which asteroid searchers Tom Gehrels of the University of Arizona, Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld and Ingrid's husband Cornelis Johannes van Houten of the Netherlands collaborated on a famously fruitful asteroid search in the 1960s.

Gehrels used Palomar's 48-inch Schmidt camera and shipped the photographic plates to Leiden. The trio are credited with several thousand asteroid discoveries.

See also

Palomar–Leiden Survey

References

• Long-lost 'Potentially Hazardous Asteroid' re-located (Asian News International)