(6400) Georgealexander Main-belt Asteroid

Discovered on 10 April 1991 by E. F. Helin at Palomar.

Named in honor of George Alexander, soon to retire from the Jet propulsion Laboratory as public-affairs manager. He has spent almost 40 years communicating science and space exploration to the public. After seven years as a reporter for Aviation Week magazine, he went to Newsweek in 1967, writing all the cover stories about the Apollo moon program. Alexander left Newsweek to become science writer for The Los Angeles Times, and he won several major awards for excellence in science writing. He became very well acquainted with JPL through his coverage of the Viking, Voyager and other missions, and he joined the staff in 1988. He was president of both the National Association of Science Writers and the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing in the 1970s and 1980s.Naming citation (19990728/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL

Where Georgealexander is today

Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Georgealexander is 3.47 au from the Sun and 4.24 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.

Facts

Number	6400
Provisional designation	1991 GQ1
Orbit class	Main-belt Asteroid
Diameter	12.1 km (#4,038 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size)
Albedo	0.399
Rotation period	41.3 hours
Absolute magnitude (H)	12.13
Orbital period	5.24 years
Semi-major axis	3.02 au
Perihelion – aphelion	2.54 – 3.49 au
Eccentricity	0.158
Inclination	12.7°
Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID)	1.55 au

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

Also named after someone called George

All asteroids named after someone called George

Also discovered on 10 April 1991

More named asteroids discovered by E. F. Helin

All 267

← (6399) Harada · (6401) Rontgen →