(9899) Greaves Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 12 March 1996 by R. H. McNaught at Siding Spring.
William Michael Herbert Greaves (1897–1955) was a British astronomer, making advances in spectrophotometry and defining spectrophotometric standards. He was the 6th Astronomer Royal for Scotland. As an elder statesman of British astronomy, he was a strong advocate for the proposed Jodrell Bank radio telescope.Naming citation (WGSBN Bull. 2, #1, 6), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Greaves is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Greaves is 2.50 au from the Sun and 1.73 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 9899 |
| Provisional designation | 1996 EH |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 5.02 km (#10,585 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.368 |
| Rotation period | 5.27 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 13.75 |
| Orbital period | 3.63 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.36 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.00 – 2.72 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.152 |
| Inclination | 7.86° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 0.996 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called William
- (1853) McElroy
- (2220) Hicks
- (3445) Pinson
- (3894) Williamcooke
- (4137) Crabtree
- (4423) Golden
- (4838) Billmclaughlin
- (5345) Boynton
- (5763) Williamtobin
- (6012) Williammurdoch
- (6613) Williamcarl
- (6756) Williamfeldman
All asteroids named after someone called William
Also discovered on 12 March 1996
More named asteroids discovered by R. H. McNaught
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- (4128) UKSTU
- (4129) Richelen
- (4220) Flood
- (4456) Mawson
- (4499) Davidallen
- (4504) Jenkinson
- (4638) Estens
- (4667) Robbiesh
- (4678) Ninian
- (4679) Sybil
← (9898) Yoshiro · (9900) Llull →