Near-Earth asteroids discovered per year

As astronomers have discovered more near-Earth asteroids, more babies have been named Luna, a correlation of 0.991 that suggests either that asteroid awareness inspires celestial naming or that both trends are expressions of a culture increasingly fascinated with space. The asteroids approach, the babies are named, and the chart connects the cosmic to the crib with the orbital precision of a scatter plot that has never looked through a telescope but knows what it sees.

Near-Earth asteroid discoveries grew from about 800 to over 3,000 per year between 2005 and 2022 as telescope networks improved. Luna grew to over 7,500 babies per year. Both are smooth upward curves: asteroids because detection technology improved, Luna because the name's cross-cultural appeal expanded. The space connection is thematic but not causal—Luna is popular because of its linguistic beauty, not because parents are reading NASA press releases. Both trends share the 2010s cultural moment of space enthusiasm (SpaceX, Mars rovers, sci-fi films) without sharing a mechanism.

Eighteen years of asteroids and Luna babies is a correlation with a thematic resonance that most pairings on this site lack: both are about looking up. The asteroids are discovered because we built better telescopes, the babies are named because we never stopped being enchanted by the moon, and the chart connects them through a shared cultural love of the celestial. The sky is watched. The name is given. The correlation, for once, has poetry.