(7225) Huntress Main-belt Asteroid

Discovered on 22 January 1983 by E. Bowell at Anderson Mesa.

Named in honor of Wesley T. Huntress, Jr. (b. 1942), planetary cosmochemist and highly regarded director of NASA space science programs during the 1990s. Gaining international recognition for pioneering studies of chemical evolution in interstellar clouds, comets and planetary atmospheres, Huntress was instrumental in developing the astrochemical research group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. During his six years as NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science, the rate at which science missions were launched increased dramatically, along with the public awareness of space science. The naming honors Huntress on his departure from NASA after an illustrious 29-year career with the agency. Name proposed by the discoverer following a suggestion by M. S. Allen, who prepared the citation.Naming citation (19980808/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL

Where Huntress is today

Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Huntress is 2.33 au from the Sun and 3.28 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.

Facts

Number	7225
Provisional designation	1983 BH
Orbit class	Main-belt Asteroid
Diameter	6.68 km (#8,023 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size)
Albedo	0.165
Rotation period	2.44 hours
Spectral type	S
Absolute magnitude (H)	13.26
Orbital period	3.58 years
Semi-major axis	2.34 au
Perihelion – aphelion	1.86 – 2.82 au
Eccentricity	0.204
Inclination	6.86°
Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID)	0.881 au

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

Also named after someone called Wesley

All asteroids named after someone called Wesley

Also discovered on 22 January 1983

More named asteroids discovered by E. Bowell

All 554

← (7224) Vesnina · (7226) Kryl →