(9134) Encke Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 24 September 1960 by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T. at Palomar.
Named in memory of Johann Franz Encke (1791-1865), eminent German astronomer. Beginning in 1816, Encke was assistant professor and director of the Seeberg Observatory, near Gotha. He computed the orbit of a short-period comet discovered by Pons and demonstrated that this object had been observed repeatedly. Later it was named comet 2P/Encke. In 1825 Encke was appointed director of the Berlin Observatory and member of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. Encke is most famous for editing the Berliner Astronomisches Jahrbuch from 1830 to 1866. This contained several very important papers on orbit determination and perturbation computations.Naming citation (19990402/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Encke is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Encke is 2.99 au from the Sun and 3.29 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 9134 |
| Provisional designation | 4822 P-L |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.42 |
| Orbital period | 4.96 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.91 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.83 – 2.99 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0286 |
| Inclination | 2.75° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.81 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Johann
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- (8583) Froberger
- (9052) Uhland
- (10749) Musaus
- (11673) Baur
- (11847) Winckelmann
All asteroids named after someone called Johann
Also discovered on 24 September 1960
- (1743) Schmidt
- (1744) Harriet
- (1776) Kuiper
- (1777) Gehrels
- (1795) Woltjer
- (1808) Bellerophon
- (1809) Prometheus
- (1810) Epimetheus
- (1811) Bruwer
- (1812) Gilgamesh
- (1846) Bengt
- (1868) Thersites