(6807) Brunnow Main-belt Asteroid

Discovered on 24 September 1960 by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T. at Palomar.

Named in memory of Franz Friedrich Ernst Brünnow (1821-1891), who started his scientific career in Berlin. He continued as the director of the observatory at Bilk, near Düsseldorf, but in 1851 returned to Berlin to become the first assistant at the observatory. He worked on comets and minor planets and published a textbook on spherical astronomy. He later moved to the United States to take up the post of director of the ne observatory at Ann Arbor. In 1865 he was appointed Royal Astronomer for Ireland. In that capacity he published in two parts his astronomical observations and researches made at Dunsink. Name suggested by L. D. Schmadel and J. Schubart, citation prepared by J. Schubart.Naming citation (19960828/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL

Where Brunnow is today

Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Brunnow is 2.01 au from the Sun and 1.63 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.

Facts

Number	6807
Provisional designation	6568 P-L
Orbit class	Main-belt Asteroid
Diameter	3.11 km (#14,930 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size)
Albedo	0.317
Absolute magnitude (H)	14.75
Orbital period	3.44 years
Semi-major axis	2.28 au
Perihelion – aphelion	2.00 – 2.56 au
Eccentricity	0.121
Inclination	4.23°
Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID)	1.03 au

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

Also named after someone called Franz

All asteroids named after someone called Franz

Also discovered on 24 September 1960

More named asteroids discovered by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T.

All 958

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