(11496) Grass Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 10 January 1989 by F. Borngen at Tautenburg.
Günter Grass (b. 1927), German writer, sculptor and graphic artist, is a critic of both the immediate postwar years and the present. His passionate writing received only partial recognition in Germany but great acclaim elsewhere. He won the 1999 Nobel Prize for literature.Naming citation (20000124/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Grass is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Grass is 2.88 au from the Sun and 3.12 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 11496 |
| Provisional designation | 1989 AG7 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 4.23 km (#12,204 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.299 |
| Rotation period | 3.50 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.24 |
| Orbital period | 4.23 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.62 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.26 – 2.97 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.135 |
| Inclination | 12.7° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.27 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Gunter
- (6080) Lugmair
- (18653) Christagunt
- (19993) Gunterseeber
- (24646) Stober
- (30851) Reissfelder
- (429033) Gunterwendt
All asteroids named after someone called Gunter
Also discovered on 10 January 1989
- (5177) Hugowolf
- (5904) Wurttemberg
- (6482) Steiermark
- (7121) Busch
- (9322) Lindenau
- (19136) Strassmann
- (24671) Frankmartin