(9938) Kretlow Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 18 May 1988 by W. Landgraf at La Silla.
Mike Kretlow, a longtime friend of the discoverer, was a fellow student at the University of Siegen, where he wrote a masters' thesis about nongravitational forces on comets.Naming citation (20010309/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Kretlow is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Kretlow is 2.11 au from the Sun and 1.27 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 9938 |
| Provisional designation | 1988 KA |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 3.71 km (#13,440 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.274 |
| Rotation period | 8.77 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.64 |
| Orbital period | 3.13 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.14 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 1.73 – 2.55 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.190 |
| Inclination | 3.80° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 0.719 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
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