(26960) Liouville Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 8 July 1997 by P. G. Comba at Prescott.
Joseph Liouville (1809-1882) was a French analyst and geometer and the first to prove the existence of transcendental numbers. Author of more than 400 papers, he was the founder and, for 39 years, the editor of the Journal de mathématiques pures et appliqées.Naming citation (20011101/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Liouville is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Liouville is 2.23 au from the Sun and 2.95 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 26960 |
| Provisional designation | 1997 NE3 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Rotation period | 14.2 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.05 |
| Orbital period | 3.71 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.40 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.02 – 2.77 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.156 |
| Inclination | 6.56° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.04 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Joseph
- (2157) Ashbrook
- (4225) Hobart
- (5034) Joeharrington
- (5577) Priestley
- (5883) Josephblack
- (6540) Stepling
- (6743) Liu
- (7656) Joemontani
- (8023) Josephwalker
- (8255) Masiero
- (8661) Ratzinger
- (8794) Joepatterson
All asteroids named after someone called Joseph