(9481) Menchu Main-belt Asteroid

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

Named in honor of Rigoberta Menchú Tum (b. 1959), a Mayan Indian from Guatemala who has campaigned for human rights, especially for indigenous people. Menchú, whose parents and brother were killed by government troops, became a symbol of peace and reconciliation in a country devastated by civil war. She was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1992. According to Nobel Committee Chairman Sejersted, Menchú belongs to ”...the shining individual examples of people who manage to preserve their humanity in brutal and violent surroundings. Such people give us hope that there are ways out of a vicious circle.”Naming citation (19990402/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL

Where Menchu is today

Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Menchu is 2.41 au from the Sun and 1.50 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.

Facts

Number	9481
Provisional designation	2559 P-L
Orbit class	Main-belt Asteroid
Diameter	4.67 km (#11,290 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size)
Albedo	0.203
Rotation period	3.05 hours
Absolute magnitude (H)	14.22
Orbital period	3.46 years
Semi-major axis	2.29 au
Perihelion – aphelion	2.07 – 2.50 au
Eccentricity	0.0938
Inclination	2.74°
Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID)	1.08 au

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

Also discovered on 24 September 1960

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

All 958

← (9480) Inti · (9482) Rubendario →