(16857) Goodall Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 25 December 1997 by NEAT at Haleakala.
Kirk Goodall (b. 1964) was the Mars Pathfinder Web Engineer, and was instrumental in setting up the relationships with other countries and industry for mirror websites that allowed Mars Pathfinder to provide information to millions of people around the world.Naming citation (20020526/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Goodall is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Goodall is 2.80 au from the Sun and 2.95 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 16857 |
| Provisional designation | 1997 YZ8 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 2.69 km (#15,887 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.294 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.79 |
| Orbital period | 3.79 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.43 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.06 – 2.81 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.154 |
| Inclination | 5.65° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.07 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Kirk
All asteroids named after someone called Kirk
Also discovered on 25 December 1997
- (8430) Florey
- (11152) Oomine
- (19370) Yukyung
- (26998) Iriso
- (29514) Karatsu
- (58671) Diplodocus
- (100691) Hasetoshitsuka