(8120) Kobe Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 2 November 1997 by H. Abe at Yatsuka.
Named for the primary port on the Seto Inland Sea since the eighth century and one of Japan's most cosmopolitan cities, where the discoverer lived for five years during his student days. Kobe has made a remarkable recovery from the great earthquake in 1995. Name proposed by the discoverer and citation proposed by I. Hasegawa.Naming citation (19990202/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
👶 Kobe as a baby name🐶 Kobe as a dog name🐱 Kobe as a cat name
Where Kobe is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Kobe is 2.40 au from the Sun and 3.15 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 8120 |
| Provisional designation | 1997 VT |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 3.09 km (#14,993 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.244 |
| Rotation period | 5.86 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.74 |
| Orbital period | 3.77 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.42 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 1.97 – 2.87 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.187 |
| Inclination | 2.59° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 0.960 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also discovered on 2 November 1997
- (13229) Echion
- (15399) Hudec
- (27985) Remanzacco
- (33061) Vaclavmorava
- (58622) Setoguchi
- (85516) Vaclik
- (129595) Vand