(8616) Fogelquist Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 16 March 1980 by C.-I. Lagerkvist at La Silla.
Named in honor of Rune Fogelquist (b. 1924) for his inspiring activities in astronomy popularization within the Mariestad Astronomy Club, located near Lake Vänern in southern Sweden, and the building and running of the nearby Bifrost Observatory, the main instrument at which is a 0.60-m reflector. The observatory has about 1000 visitors annually. The naming commemorates the twentieth anniversary of the Mariestad Astronomy Club, celebrated in August 1998. Name proposed and citation prepared by H. Rickman.Naming citation (19980808/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Fogelquist is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Fogelquist is 2.66 au from the Sun and 3.66 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 8616 |
| Provisional designation | 1980 FY4 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.74 |
| Orbital period | 3.56 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.33 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 1.92 – 2.74 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.175 |
| Inclination | 5.25° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 0.916 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also discovered on 16 March 1980
- (2902) Westerlund
- (3386) Klementinum
- (3634) Iwan
- (4169) Celsius
- (4593) Reipurth
- (5221) Fabribudweis
- (5498) Gustafsson
- (5938) Keller
- (6150) Neukum
- (6687) Lahulla
- (6945) Dahlgren
- (7548) Engstrom