(7722) Firneis Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 29 September 1973 by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T. at Palomar.
Named in honor of Maria Gertrude Firneis (b. 1947), a professor of astronomy at the University of Vienna. She has worked on delicate astrometric and statistical problems and is an authority on the history of astronomy. She is also engaged in dating ancient events and correlating them with celestial phenomena. Name suggested and citation prepared by H. Haupt.Naming citation (19980211/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Firneis is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Firneis is 2.31 au from the Sun and 2.79 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 7722 |
| Provisional designation | 2240 T-2 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.16 |
| Orbital period | 3.61 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.35 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.17 – 2.53 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0758 |
| Inclination | 7.08° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.17 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
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All asteroids named after someone called Maria
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