(16438) Knofel Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 11 January 1989 by F. Borngen at Tautenburg.
German meteorologist André Knöfel (b. 1963) is the head of the Fireball Data Center of the International Meteor Organization and an observer of minor planets. He has located precovery observations of many objects in the Digital Sky Survey, among them this minor planet and the transneptunian object (20000) 2000 WR106.Naming citation (20010309/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Knofel is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Knofel is 2.89 au from the Sun and 3.65 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 16438 |
| Provisional designation | 1989 AU6 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 10.7 km (#4,747 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.0480 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.26 |
| Orbital period | 4.52 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.73 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.58 – 2.89 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0556 |
| Inclination | 4.60° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.60 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Andre
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- (11001) Andrewulff
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- (11298) Gide
- (12701) Chenier
- (13523) Vanhassel
- (28932) Izidoro
- (42733) Andrebaranne
- (116166) Andremaeder
- (154141) Kertesz
- (289085) Andreweil
- (291921) Rott
All asteroids named after someone called Andre
Also discovered on 11 January 1989
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- (4579) Puccini
- (4834) Thoas
- (5375) Siedentopf
- (5816) Potsdam
- (5846) Hessen
- (7119) Hiera
- (7698) Schweitzer
- (10067) Bertuch
- (10745) Arnstadt
- (13024) Conradferdinand
- (15710) Bocklin