(3982) Kastel' Main-belt Asteroid

Discovered on 2 May 1984 by L. G. Karachkina at Nauchnyj.

Named in honor of Galina Richardovna Kastelʹ, well-known expert on the study of the motions of minor planets and comets, and a staff member of the Institute for Theoretical Astronomy since 1962. She contributed much to the study of the 1886 close approach of periodic comet Brooks 2 to Jupiter. For more than a quarter of a century she has headed the ITA service on comets and fast-moving minor planets, maintaining contacts with the IAU Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams and supplying observers in the U.S.S.R. with the necessary information on orbits and ephemerides. She has also put much effort into the identification and orbit determination of minor planets observed in the course of the program at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, and the success of this program is in no small measure due to her help.Naming citation (WGSBN Bull. 6, #10, 6), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL

Where Kastel' is today

MercuryVenusEarthEarthMarsMarsKastel'Kastel'

Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Kastel' is 2.55 au from the Sun and 2.20 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.

Facts

Number3982
Provisional designation1984 JP1
Orbit classMain-belt Asteroid
Diameter6.79 km (#7,889 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size)
Albedo0.201
Rotation period8.49 hours
Absolute magnitude (H)13.0
Orbital period3.39 years
Semi-major axis2.26 au
Perihelion – aphelion1.76 – 2.75 au
Eccentricity0.220
Inclination5.30°
Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID)0.752 au

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

Also named after someone called Galina

Also discovered on 2 May 1984

More named asteroids discovered by L. G. Karachkina