(11768) Merrill Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 26 March 1971 by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T. at Palomar.
Paul W. Merrill (1887-1961), a Mt. Wilson Observatory spectroscopist, was the first to detect a short-lived isotope, of technetium, in the atmospheres of stars, thus confirming that nucleosynthesis must occur in stars.Naming citation (20071124/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Merrill is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Merrill is 2.99 au from the Sun and 3.53 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 11768 |
| Provisional designation | 4107 T-1 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 11.8 km (#4,187 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.0880 |
| Rotation period | 11.4 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 13.32 |
| Orbital period | 5.63 years |
| Semi-major axis | 3.16 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.94 – 3.39 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0718 |
| Inclination | 9.28° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.97 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Paul
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- (6726) Suthers
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All asteroids named after someone called Paul
Also discovered on 26 March 1971
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- (5491) Kaulbach
- (5492) Thoma
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- (6257) Thorvaldsen
- (6351) Neumann
- (6429) Brancusi
- (6674) Cezanne
- (6752) Ashley
- (7367) Giotto
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