(10959) Appennino Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 24 September 1960 by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T. at Palomar.
The Appennino, or Apennines, mountain range, extends for the whole length of Italy, a 1400-km stretch from the Gulf of Genoa to the Strait of Messina. It also effectively crosses the strait to Sicily, where the mountains are geologically very active, especially Mount Etna (3280 m).Naming citation (20030501/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Appennino is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Appennino is 2.27 au from the Sun and 1.28 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 10959 |
| Provisional designation | 6579 P-L |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 7.43 km (#7,182 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.0780 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.47 |
| Orbital period | 3.66 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.38 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.16 – 2.59 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0900 |
| Inclination | 3.15° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.18 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also discovered on 24 September 1960
- (1743) Schmidt
- (1744) Harriet
- (1776) Kuiper
- (1777) Gehrels
- (1795) Woltjer
- (1808) Bellerophon
- (1809) Prometheus
- (1810) Epimetheus
- (1811) Bruwer
- (1812) Gilgamesh
- (1846) Bengt
- (1868) Thersites