Provisional designation in astronomy in the context of "List of unnumbered trans-Neptunian objects"

486958 Arrokoth (provisional designation 2014 MU₆₉; formerly nicknamed Ultima Thule) is a trans-Neptunian object located in the Kuiper belt. Arrokoth became the farthest and most primitive object in the Solar System visited by a spacecraft when the NASA space probe New Horizons conducted a flyby on 1 January 2019. Arrokoth is a contact binary 36 km (22 mi) long, composed of two planetesimals 21 and 15 km (13 and 9 mi) across, that are joined along their major axes. With an orbital period of about 298 years and a low orbital inclination and eccentricity, Arrokoth is classified as a cold classical Kuiper belt object.

Arrokoth was discovered on 26 June 2014 by astronomer Marc Buie and the New Horizons Search Team using the Hubble Space Telescope as part of a search for a Kuiper-belt object for New Horizons to target in its first extended mission; it was chosen over two other candidates, 2014 OS393 and 2014 PN70, to become the primary target of the mission.

A formal minor-planet designation is, in its final form, a number–name combination given to a minor planet (asteroid, centaur, trans-Neptunian object and dwarf planet but not comet). Such designation always features a leading number (catalog or IAU number) assigned to a body once its orbital path is sufficiently secured (so-called "numbering"). The formal designation is based on the minor planet's provisional designation, which was previously assigned automatically when it had been observed for the first time. Later on, the provisional part of the formal designation may be replaced with a name (so-called "naming"). Both formal and provisional designations are overseen by the Minor Planet Center (MPC), a branch of the International Astronomical Union.

Currently, a number is assigned only after the orbit has been secured by four well-observed oppositions. For unusual objects, such as near-Earth asteroids, numbering might already occur after three, maybe even only two, oppositions. Among more than half a million minor planets that received a number, only about 20 thousand (or 4%) have received a name. In addition, approximately 700,000 minor planets have not been numbered, as of November 2023.

514107 Kaʻepaokaʻāwela (/kəˌʔɛpə.oʊkə.ʔɑːˈvɛlə/), provisionally designated 2015 BZ₅₀₉ and nicknamed Bee-Zed, is a small asteroid, approximately 3 km (2 mi) in diameter, in a resonant, co-orbital motion with Jupiter. It is an unusual minor planet in that its orbit is retrograde, which is opposite to the direction of most other bodies in the Solar System. It was discovered on 26 November 2014, by astronomers of the Pan-STARRS survey at Haleakala Observatory on the island of Maui, United States. Kaʻepaokaʻāwela is the first example of an asteroid in a 1:–1 resonance with any of the planets. This type of resonance had only been studied a few years before the object's discovery. One study suggests that it was an interstellar asteroid captured 4.5 billion years ago into an orbit around the Sun.

541132 Leleākūhonua (/ˌlɛleɪɑːˌkuːhoʊˈnuːə/; provisional designation 2015 TG₃₈₇) is an extreme trans-Neptunian object and sednoid in the outermost part of the Solar System. It was first observed on 13 October 2015, by astronomers at the Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii. Based on its discovery date near Halloween and the letters in its provisional designation 2015 TG₃₈₇, the object was informally nicknamed "The Goblin" by its discoverers and later named Leleākūhonua, comparing its orbit to the flight of the Pacific golden plover. It was the third sednoid discovered, after Sedna and 2012 VP113, and measures around 220 kilometers (140 miles) in diameter.