Discovery date 22 September 1973 Minor planet category Main belt Discovered 22 September 1973 Discoverer Nikolai Chernykh Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Alternative names 1973SO2 Observation arc 22976 days (62.90 yr) Orbits Sun Named after Víctor Jara | |
Discovered by Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh Aphelion 2.5299623 AU (378.47697 Gm) Discovery site Crimean Astrophysical Observatory Similar Solar System, Asteroid belt, Sun, 2577 Litva | ||
2644 Victor Jara is a minor planet orbiting the Sun in the Solar System. Initially it received the designation 1973 SO2. The numerical designation indicates that it was the 2644 minor planet/asteroid discovered.
2644 Victor Jara was discovered by Soviet/Russian astronomer/astrophysicist Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh at the scientific town of Nauchnyj, Crimea, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union on September 22, 1973 .
Meaning of name
Chernykh named the asteroid in honor of the Chilean folk singer Victor Jara who was tortured and murdered shortly after the military coup of September 11, 1973 led by Army Commander-in-Chief Augusto Pinochet, that ended the democratically elected government of the socialist Salvador Allende Gossens.
Victor Jara toured the Soviet Union in the 1960s and praised its culture, its scientific achievements and the friendliness of its working people.