(9664) Brueghel Main-belt Asteroid

Discovered on 17 April 1996 by E. W. Elst at La Silla.

Named in memory of Pieter Brueghel (Bruegel, Breughel; c. 1525–1569), the greatest Flemish painter of the sixteenth century. He was apprenticed to Pieter Coecke, a leading Antwerp artist, whose daughter he married. Although Brueghel was little influenced by Coecke's Italianate art, the apprenticeship provided an important contact with a humanistic milieu, sensitizing Brueghel for human life. Perhaps for this reason his landscapes show, not only trees, mountains and snow, but also humans suffering from one side and enjoying life from the other. Through his sons Jan and Pieter, Brueghel became the ancestor of a dynasty of painters that survived into the eighteenth century.Naming citation (WGSBN Bull. 4, #11, 5), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL

Where Brueghel is today

Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Brueghel is 3.46 au from the Sun and 2.73 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.

Facts

Number	9664
Provisional designation	1996 HT14
Orbit class	Main-belt Asteroid
Diameter	11.7 km (#4,224 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size)
Albedo	0.0680
Rotation period	1.15 hours
Absolute magnitude (H)	13.42
Orbital period	5.70 years
Semi-major axis	3.19 au
Perihelion – aphelion	2.80 – 3.58 au
Eccentricity	0.123
Inclination	2.33°
Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID)	1.80 au

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

Also named after someone called Pieter

All asteroids named after someone called Pieter

Also discovered on 17 April 1996

More named asteroids discovered by E. W. Elst

All 1035

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