(8621) Jimparsons Main-belt Asteroid

Discovered on 1 March 1981 by S. J. Bus at Siding Spring.

American actor James Joseph “Jim” Parsons (b. 1973) portrays the fictional Caltech theoretical physicist Dr. Sheldon Lee Cooper in the television sitcom The Big Bang Theory.Naming citation (WGSBN Bull. 3, #12, 12), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL

Where Jimparsons is today

MercuryVenusEarthEarthMarsMarsJimparsonsJimparsons

Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Jimparsons is 2.88 au from the Sun and 3.77 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.

Facts

Number8621
Provisional designation1981 EK7
Orbit classMain-belt Asteroid
Diameter9.17 km (#5,641 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size)
Albedo0.110
Absolute magnitude (H)13.46
Orbital period5.55 years
Semi-major axis3.13 au
Perihelion – aphelion2.62 – 3.65 au
Eccentricity0.165
Inclination4.33°
Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID)1.61 au

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

Also named after someone called James

Also discovered on 1 March 1981

More named asteroids discovered by S. J. Bus