(15355) Maupassant Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 2 January 1995 by E. W. Elst at Caussols.
Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) was a French writer showing a remarkable hostility to religion. Impregnated with a natural aversion against society, he loved wandering through nature. A master of short-stories and novels, in which he describes accurately human vices, he became famous with the 1885 novel Bel Ami.Naming citation (MPC batch dated 2015-11-25), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Maupassant is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Maupassant is 2.48 au from the Sun and 3.45 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 15355 |
| Provisional designation | 1995 AZ3 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 5.04 km (#10,528 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.210 |
| Rotation period | 3.00 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 13.87 |
| Orbital period | 3.85 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.46 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.31 – 2.61 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0609 |
| Inclination | 5.00° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.29 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Guy
- (4597) Consolmagno
- (7708) Fennimore
- (10281) Libourel
- (10513) Mackie
- (12687) de Valory
- (12719) Pingre
- (13226) Soulie
- (13622) McArthur
- (19629) Serra
- (21008) Ottewell
- (72834) Guywells
- (278197) Touvron
All asteroids named after someone called Guy