(27988) Menabrea Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 7 November 1997 by P. G. Comba at Prescott.
Luigi Federico Menabrea (1809-1896), Piedmontese mathematician and statesman, is best remembered for an article he wrote based on a lecture given in Turin by Charles Babbage. Amplified by Ada Lovelace, this lecture was one of the earliest and clearest conceptualizations of a general-purpose computing engine.Naming citation (20020427/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Menabrea is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Menabrea is 3.65 au from the Sun and 4.23 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 27988 |
| Provisional designation | 1997 VA4 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Rotation period | 133 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.76 |
| Orbital period | 5.33 years |
| Semi-major axis | 3.05 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.41 – 3.69 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.209 |
| Inclination | 7.48° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.44 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
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