(7842) Ishitsuka Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 1 December 1994 by Endate, K., Watanabe, K. at Kitami.
Named in honor of Mutsumi Ishitsuka (b. 1930), who has worked in Peru since 1957, making coronagraphic observations of the sun at high altitude. In 1979 he built the Cosmos Observatory and in 1988 set up a new coronagraph there that was destroyed by a group of guerrillas. He is currently trying to reconstruct the observatory and to establish a Peruvian National Observatory for teaching astronomy. Name proposed by the discoverers following a suggestion by T. Kuroda and Y. Yamada.Naming citation (19990728/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Ishitsuka is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Ishitsuka is 2.57 au from the Sun and 3.00 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 7842 |
| Provisional designation | 1994 XQ |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 3.71 km (#13,436 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.284 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.35 |
| Orbital period | 3.48 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.30 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 1.80 – 2.79 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.214 |
| Inclination | 5.25° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 0.798 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.