(7970) Lichtenberg Main-belt Asteroid

Discovered on 24 September 1960 by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T. at Palomar.

Named in memory of Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799). In his time he was one of Europe's best-known experimental physicists. He worked in Göttingen, Germany, and in Brighton, England. Even today, he is known for his aphorisms, such as: “it is almost impossible to carry the torch of the truth through a crowd without singeing someone's beard”, “the healthy scholar is the man for whom thinking is not an illness” and “I always feel pain when a gifted person dies---the world has a greater need for these than the heavens”. Name proposed by K.-O. Groeneveld.Naming citation (19981208/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL

Where Lichtenberg is today

Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Lichtenberg is 2.30 au from the Sun and 1.47 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.

Facts

Number	7970
Provisional designation	6065 P-L
Orbit class	Main-belt Asteroid
Diameter	6.17 km (#8,683 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size)
Albedo	0.117
Absolute magnitude (H)	14.34
Orbital period	4.13 years
Semi-major axis	2.57 au
Perihelion – aphelion	1.94 – 3.21 au
Eccentricity	0.245
Inclination	4.15°
Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID)	0.932 au

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

Also named after someone called Georg

All asteroids named after someone called Georg

Also discovered on 24 September 1960

More named asteroids discovered by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T.

All 958

← (7968) Elst-Pizarro · (7971) Meckbach →