(10961) Buysballot Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 24 September 1960 by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T. at Palomar.
Dutch scientist Christophorus H. D. Buys Ballot (1817-1890) created Buys Ballot's law describing the turning of the winds in northern and southern hemispheres. He founded the Astronomical Institute at the University of Utrecht (Sonnenborgh) in 1853 and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute in 1854.Naming citation (20030501/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Buysballot is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Buysballot is 2.19 au from the Sun and 1.26 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 10961 |
| Provisional designation | 6809 P-L |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 16.23 |
| Orbital period | 3.30 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.22 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 1.94 – 2.50 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.127 |
| Inclination | 1.01° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 0.919 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