(10093) Diesel Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 18 November 1990 by E. W. Elst at La Silla.
Named in memory of Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel (1858-1913), German thermal engineer, who devoted much of his time to developing an internal combustion engine that would approach the theoretical efficiency of the Carnot cycle. In 1892, this led to the invention of the so-called “Diesel engine”. In 1913 he apparently fell from the deck of a mail steamer en route to London and drowned.Naming citation (19990728/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
🐶 Diesel as a dog name🐱 Diesel as a cat name
Where Diesel is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Diesel is 2.14 au from the Sun and 2.22 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 10093 |
| Provisional designation | 1990 WX1 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Rotation period | 47.7 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.77 |
| Orbital period | 3.70 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.39 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.14 – 2.65 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.107 |
| Inclination | 6.80° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.13 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Rudolf
- (10356) Rudolfsteiner
- (10529) Giessenburg
- (11408) Zahradnik
- (11432) Kerkhoven
- (13084) Virchow
- (13107) Rudolfdvorak
- (13682) Pressberger
- (20013) Nureyev
- (22184) Rudolfveltman
- (24974) Macuch
- (29246) Clausius
- (39741) Komm
All asteroids named after someone called Rudolf
Also discovered on 18 November 1990
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- (6318) Cronkite
- (9588) Quesnay
- (10325) Bexa
- (11511) Billknopf
- (12276) IJzer
- (14876) Dampier
- (15268) Wendelinefroger
- (15735) Andakerkhoven
- (19998) Binoche
- (23477) Wallenstadt
- (29193) Dolphyn