(6771) Foerster Main-belt Asteroid

Discovered on 9 March 1986 by C.-I. Lagerkvist at Siding Spring.

Named in honor of Wilhelm Julius Foerster (1832-1921), director of the Berlin Observatory for nearly 40 years. He made measurements of star positions and in 1860 was a codiscoverer of (62) Erato. He was a strong campaigner for the organized rapid and reliable telegraphic dissemination of urgent astronomical news and arranged for the establishment of the Astronomische Zentralstelle in Kiel. In 1889 he founded the Berlin “Urania”, the first large public observatory, equipped with a 0.30-m refractor. This minor planet is being named on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the “Wilhelm-Foerster-Sternwarte e.V.”. Citation prepared in part by W. Tost.Naming citation (19961026/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL

Where Foerster is today

Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Foerster is 2.75 au from the Sun and 2.43 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.

Facts

Number	6771
Provisional designation	1986 EZ4
Orbit class	Main-belt Asteroid
Diameter	3.06 km (#15,055 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size)
Albedo	0.399
Absolute magnitude (H)	14.52
Orbital period	3.55 years
Semi-major axis	2.33 au
Perihelion – aphelion	1.90 – 2.75 au
Eccentricity	0.185
Inclination	0.840°
Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID)	0.911 au

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

Also named after someone called Wilhelm

All asteroids named after someone called Wilhelm

More named asteroids discovered by C.-I. Lagerkvist

All 102

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