(8313) Christiansen Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 19 December 1996 by Beijing Schmidt CCD Asteroid Program at Xinglong.
Named in honor of Wilbur N. Christiansen (b. 1913), foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and unfailing friend of Chinese astronomers. A pioneer in radio astronomy, he invented and developed a series of radio telescopes that in their time provided the highest angular resolution. These were the “grating telescope”, the “grating cross” and the “rotational synthesis telescope”. His textbook on radio telescopes, with Högbom, was translated into Russian and Chinese. Immediately after the discovery of the 21-cm hydrogen line in space, he confirmed this and went on to make the first map that showed we live in a spiral galaxy. He served as a vice president of the IAU and as president of URSI, and he is now an honorary president of URSI.Naming citation (19981208/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Christiansen is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Christiansen is 2.86 au from the Sun and 3.40 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 8313 |
| Provisional designation | 1996 YU1 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 5.20 km (#10,238 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.313 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 13.63 |
| Orbital period | 4.22 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.61 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.17 – 3.05 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.169 |
| Inclination | 14.7° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.21 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Wilbur
All asteroids named after someone called Wilbur