(17869) Descamps Main-belt Asteroid

Discovered on 20 June 1998 by ODAS at Caussols.

Pascal Descamps (b. 1961) works at the Institut de Mécanique Céleste in Paris on the modeling the Galilean satellites of Jupiter, with particular application to observations of their mutual phenomena. He has also studied the volcanoes on the satellite Io and has worked on the Uranian system using adaptive optics.Naming citation (20020427/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL

Where Descamps is today

Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Descamps is 2.24 au from the Sun and 2.82 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.

Facts

Number	17869
Provisional designation	1998 MA14
Orbit class	Main-belt Asteroid
Diameter	2.65 km (#15,964 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size)
Albedo	0.174
Rotation period	11.9 hours
Absolute magnitude (H)	15.23
Orbital period	3.71 years
Semi-major axis	2.40 au
Perihelion – aphelion	2.18 – 2.61 au
Eccentricity	0.0902
Inclination	6.96°
Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID)	1.19 au

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

Also named after someone called Pascal

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Also discovered on 20 June 1998

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