(18430) Balzac Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 14 January 1994 by F. Borngen at Tautenburg.
Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850), the creator of the French realistic novel, was a keen observer of French human society in the post-Napoleonic time. His principal work La comédie humaine is a gigantic unfinished novel cycle, for which he had planned 137 volumes.Naming citation (20010509/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Balzac is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Balzac is 2.25 au from the Sun and 1.61 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 18430 |
| Provisional designation | 1994 AK16 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 3.58 km (#13,744 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.239 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.28 |
| Orbital period | 3.70 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.39 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.15 – 2.63 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0991 |
| Inclination | 6.63° |
| 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 named after someone called Honore
All asteroids named after someone called Honore