(8661) Ratzinger
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Asteroid (8661) Ratzinger |
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| Properties of the orbit ( animation ) | |
| Orbit type | Main belt asteroid |
| Asteroid family | Eos family |
| Major semi-axis | 3.01 AU |
| eccentricity | 0.04 |
| Perihelion - aphelion | 2.88 AU - 3.13 AU |
| Inclination of the orbit plane | 10.56 ° |
| Sidereal period | 1903 days |
| Mean orbital velocity | 17.17 km / s |
| Physical Properties | |
| Absolute brightness | 12.2 mag |
| history | |
| Explorer |
Lutz D. Schmadel , Freimut Börngen |
| Date of discovery | October 14, 1990 |
| Another name | 1990 TA 13 , 1969 US, 1974 TM 1 , 1992 CB 1 |
| Source: Unless otherwise stated, the data comes from JPL Small-Body Database Browser . The affiliation to an asteroid family is automatically determined from the AstDyS-2 database . Please also note the note on asteroid items. | |
(8661) Ratzinger is an asteroid and is one of the numerous mini-planets that orbit the sun in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter . It has a diameter of about 10 km. Its rotation period is not yet known.
(8661) Ratzinger was discovered on October 14, 1990 by Lutz D. Schmadel and Freimut Börngen at the Thuringian State Observatory in Tautenburg and was given the provisional name 1990 TA 13 before it was cataloged as number 8661 .
Because at the time of the discovery, the then Curia Cardinal Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger , later Pope Benedict XVI. , which opened the Vatican archives for science, was given the name "Ratzinger" on May 23, 2000 in honor of the previously unnamed asteroid.