(3538) Nelsonia 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 Elisabeth Nelson, former secretary of the Landessternwarte and the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, both at Heidelberg. She took care of the investigators of the Palomar-Leiden Survey during the blinking of the survey plates in Heidelberg.Naming citation (WGSBN Bull. 4, #10, 4), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL

Where Nelsonia is today

Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Nelsonia is 2.82 au from the Sun and 3.82 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.

Facts

Number	3538
Provisional designation	6548 P-L
Orbit class	Main-belt Asteroid
Diameter	11.1 km (#4,505 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size)
Albedo	0.0620
Absolute magnitude (H)	13.67
Orbital period	4.29 years
Semi-major axis	2.64 au
Perihelion – aphelion	1.93 – 3.35 au
Eccentricity	0.270
Inclination	4.21°
Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID)	0.947 au

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

Also named after someone called Elisabeth

All asteroids named after someone called Elisabeth

Also discovered on 24 September 1960

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

All 958

← (3537) Jurgen · (3539) Weimar →