(9257) Kunisuke Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 24 September 1973 by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T. at Palomar.
Named in memory of Kunisuke Kinoshita (1901-1931), an astronomer at the Tokyo Astronomical Observatory from 1924 to his death. At the observatory he worked with Oikawa and discovered 1927 EB and 1927 FC. However, after he was sent to Malaysia in 1929 to observe the total eclipse, he became ill and stopped most of his work in 1930. He also wrote excellent articles on modern astronomy in the Astronomical Herald, the monthly journal of the Astronomical Society of Japan, for which he served as editor after 1929.Naming citation (19990402/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Kunisuke is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Kunisuke is 3.20 au from the Sun and 2.87 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 9257 |
| Provisional designation | 1552 T-2 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Rotation period | 4.29 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 12.69 |
| Orbital period | 5.18 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.99 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.76 – 3.23 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0791 |
| Inclination | 9.85° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.76 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.