(7933) Magritte Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 3 April 1989 by E. W. Elst at La Silla.
Named for the Belgian painter René Magritte Lessines (1898-1967), well known for his magical surrealistic style. In the 1930s composed his Magritte dictionary, placing ordinary objects, such as apples, stones and pipes, in a surrealistic context, thereby aiming to surprise and alienate. The philosophy of his work may best be summarized as “creating the unknown with known things”. Citation written by K. Leterme at the request of the discoverer.Naming citation (19980211/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Magritte is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Magritte is 2.50 au from the Sun and 1.69 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 7933 |
| Provisional designation | 1989 GP4 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 3.00 km (#15,226 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.260 |
| Rotation period | 3.26 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.57 |
| Orbital period | 3.55 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.33 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.13 – 2.52 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0840 |
| Inclination | 6.40° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.12 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
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