8661 Ratzinger, provisional designation , is an Eoan
asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere.
...
from the outer region of the
asteroid belt, approximately 13.4 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 14 October 1990, by German astronomers
Lutz Schmadel and
Freimut Börngen
Freimut Börngen (; 17 October 1930 – 19 June 2021) was a German astronomer and a prolific discoverer of minor planets. A few sources give his first name wrongly as "Freimuth". The Minor Planet Center credits him as F. Borngen.
He studied ga ...
at the
Karl Schwarzschild Observatory in Tautenburg, eastern Germany.
The asteroid was named after Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who became
Pope Benedict XVI.
Orbit and classification
''Ratzinger'' is a member of the
Eos family The Eos family (''adj. Eoan'' ; ) is a very large asteroid family located in the outer region of the asteroid belt. The family of K-type asteroids is believed to have formed as a result of an ancient catastrophic collision. The family's parent body ...
(),
the largest
asteroid family
An asteroid family is a population of asteroids that share similar proper orbital elements, such as semimajor axis, eccentricity, and orbital inclination. The members of the families are thought to be fragments of past asteroid collisions. An a ...
in the
outer main belt consisting of nearly 10,000 asteroids.
It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.9–3.1
AU once every 5 years and 3 months (1,906 days). Its orbit has an
eccentricity of 0.04 and an
inclination of 11
° with respect to the
ecliptic.
In October 1969, it was first identified as at
Crimea–Nauchnij. The body's
observation arc begins at
Leoncito in 1974, when it was identified as , 16 years prior to its official discovery observation at Tautenburg.
Physical characteristics
According to the survey carried out by NASA's
Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent
NEOWISE mission, ''Ratzinger'' measures 13.4 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an
albedo of 0.09.
In 2018,
Josef Ďurech ''et al.'' measured its rotation period as hours and provided a partial shape model.
As of 2020, ''Ratzinger''s composition remains unknown.
Naming
This
minor planet was named after German
Joseph Ratzinger (born 1927), then Cardinal and professor of theology, for the role he played in supervising the opening of the
Vatican Secret Archives in 1998 to researchers investigating judicial errors against Galileo, after whom the minor planet
697 Galilea
697 Galilea is a minor planet orbiting the Sun. It was named in honor of Galileo Galilei, as it was discovered just after the 300th anniversary of his discovery of the Galilean moons
The Galilean moons (), or Galilean satellites, are the fou ...
is named, and other medieval scientists.
Ratzinger was considered to be one of the most authoritative voices in the Vatican and became
Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. The name was proposed by the asteroid's first discoverer,
Lutz Schmadel.
The approved naming citation was published by the
Minor Planet Center
The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
Function
...
on 23 May 2000 ().
References
External links
Asteroid Lightcurve Database (LCDB) query form
)
Dictionary of Minor Planet Names Google books
– Observatoire de Genève, Raoul Behrend
– Minor Planet Center
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ratzinger
008661
Discoveries by Lutz D. Schmadel
Discoveries by Freimut Börngen
Named minor planets
8661 Ratzinger
19901014