(13219) Cailletet Outer Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 30 June 1997 by Spacewatch at Kitt Peak.
French physicist Louis-Paul Cailletet (1832-1913) was the first to liquefy oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and other gases. Liquefied nitrogen is used by astronomers to refrigerate imaging detectors to reduce thermal background noise and make faint minor planets detectable.Naming citation (20030318/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Cailletet is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Cailletet is 2.96 au from the Sun and 2.20 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 13219 |
| Provisional designation | 1997 MB9 |
| Orbit class | Outer Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 16.1 km (#2,871 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.0620 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 12.79 |
| Orbital period | 5.74 years |
| Semi-major axis | 3.21 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.90 – 3.51 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0946 |
| Inclination | 21.6° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 2.01 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
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