(9250) Chamberlin Main-belt Asteroid

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

Named in honor of Alan B. Chamberlin, a senior engineer within the Navigation and Flight Mechanics Section of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Since joining the staff at JPL in 1996, Alan has shown his expertise in astronomical observing and celestial mechanics. His research work has centered on the search for gaseous emissions from suspected defunct comets and the uncertainties associated with the close approaches to the earth of the so-called potentially hazardous objects. For the New Millennium Deep Space One spacecraft that was launched on 1998 Oct. 25, Alan is responsible for the ephemeris development for both the mission targets and the two dozen well-observed minor planets that will be used by this spacecraft to navigate autonomously to its targets.Naming citation (19990402/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL

Where Chamberlin is today

Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Chamberlin is 3.29 au from the Sun and 2.44 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.

Facts

Number	9250
Provisional designation	4643 P-L
Orbit class	Main-belt Asteroid
Diameter	8.81 km (#5,906 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size)
Albedo	0.119
Absolute magnitude (H)	13.45
Orbital period	5.50 years
Semi-major axis	3.12 au
Perihelion – aphelion	2.47 – 3.76 au
Eccentricity	0.208
Inclination	19.4°
Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID)	1.52 au

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

Also named after someone called Alan

All asteroids named after someone called Alan

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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