Discovery date 14 October 1990 Minor planet category main-belt · (outer) Absolute magnitude 12.3 Asteroid group Asteroid belt | MPC designation 8661 Ratzinger Discovered 14 October 1990 Orbits Sun | |
Discovered by L. D. Schmadel
F. Börngen Named after Pope Benedict XVI
(Pope, chronology) Alternative names 1990 TA13 · 1969 US
1974 TM1 · 1992 CB1 Discovery site Karl Schwarzschild Observatory Discoverers Freimut Börngen, Lutz D. Schmadel People also search for Sun, 6864 Starkenburg | ||
8661 Ratzinger, provisional designation 1990 TA13, is an asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 20 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 14 October 1990, by German astronomers Lutz Schmadel and Freimut Börngen at the Karl Schwarzschild Observatory in Tautenburg, eastern Germany.
The asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.9–3.1 AU once every 5 years and 3 months (1,903 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.03 and an inclination of 11° with respect to the ecliptic. The first used observation was made at Leoncito Astronomical Complex in 1974, extending Ratzinger's observation arc by 16 years prior to its discovery.
According to the survey carried out by NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, the asteroid measures 13.4 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo of 0.09, while a generic estimate based on its absolute magnitude of 12.3 and a typical carbonaceous albedo of 0.05, gives a diameter of approximately 20 kilometers. As of 2016, Ratzinger's composition, rotation period and shape remains unknown.
The asteroid was named after German Joseph Ratzinger (b. 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 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. Naming citation was published on 23 May 2000 (M.P.C. 40702).