(5642) Bobbywilliams Mars-crossing Asteroid

Discovered on 27 July 1990 by H. E. Holt at Palomar.

Named in honor of Bobby G. Williams (b. 1951), celestial mechanics and spacecraft navigation expert at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Williams has been a leader of the navigation effort for the NEAR mission to (253) Mathilde and (433) Eros. Name suggested and citation provided by J. Veverka and D. K. Yeomans.Naming citation (19990728/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL

Where Bobbywilliams is today

Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Bobbywilliams is 2.51 au from the Sun and 2.74 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.

Facts

Number	5642
Provisional designation	1990 OK1
Orbit class	Mars-crossing Asteroid
Diameter	3.17 km (#14,787 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size)
Albedo	0.433
Rotation period	4.83 hours
Absolute magnitude (H)	14.19
Orbital period	3.52 years
Semi-major axis	2.32 au
Perihelion – aphelion	1.55 – 3.09 au
Eccentricity	0.333
Inclination	25.0°
Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID)	0.583 au

Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.

Also named after someone called Bobby

(19577) Bobbyfisher

All asteroids named after someone called Bobby

Also discovered on 27 July 1990

More named asteroids discovered by H. E. Holt

All 119

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