(10953) Gerdatschira Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 24 September 1960 by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T. at Palomar.
Gerda Tschira (b. 1943) is the founder and director of the Heidelberg Carl Bosch Museum, built in memory of the great German chemist and 1931 Nobel laureate. She is very much interested in the natural sciences including astronomy. The name was suggested by L. D. Schmadel.Naming citation (20060219/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Gerdatschira is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Gerdatschira is 2.33 au from the Sun and 1.38 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 10953 |
| Provisional designation | 4276 P-L |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Rotation period | 18.8 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 15.96 |
| Orbital period | 3.30 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.22 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 1.81 – 2.62 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.184 |
| Inclination | 5.50° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 0.806 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Gerda
All asteroids named after someone called Gerda
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