The Man with the Asteroid Encyclopedia – Lutz Schmadel, Kleinplaneten and Schumick

For this a very precise determination of the position of these celestial bodies was necessary. During the course of observations, with a mostly two-meter telescope at Teutenberg near Jena, Lutz Schmadel and his colleagues discovered about 250 asteroids.

He named these objects in many different ways. Among other things, he honored the resistance against the Nazi regime with the asteroids Rote Kapel, Kreusau and Stauffenberg.

Wolflojewski and Werth Objects make it clear that Lutz Schmadel values ​​journalism and ZDF in particular. Later followed by science correspondent Hildegard Worth.
He named an asteroid discovered in 1992 after Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher – but not Schumacher, as the name was already reminiscent of an astronomer at Altona. The racing driver makes his lap through the solar system as the asteroid “Shumi”.

Lutz Schmadel’s “Lexicon of Minor Planet Names” enjoys worldwide fame. Over 19,000 are explained in three thick blue sections. Lutz Schmadel died in 2016 at the age of 74. His famous encyclopedia also lists itself: two two three four with the asteroid – discovered by Hans-Emil Schuster in Chile – named Schmadel in his honor.