(8591) Excubitor Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 24 September 1960 by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T. at Palomar.
Named for Lanius excubitor, or great grey or northern shrike.Naming citation (WGSBN Bull. 2, #8, 5), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Excubitor is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Excubitor is 3.22 au from the Sun and 4.15 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 8591 |
| Provisional designation | 6543 P-L |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 15.2 km (#3,093 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.0590 |
| Rotation period | 14.6 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 13.1 |
| Orbital period | 5.59 years |
| Semi-major axis | 3.15 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.54 – 3.76 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.194 |
| Inclination | 2.08° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.53 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
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