(12138) Olinwilson Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 24 September 1960 by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T. at Palomar.
Olin C. Wilson (1909-1994) was an American spectroscopist who worked on solar and stellar activity cycles. With M. K. V. Bappu he found a method of determining a star's luminosity from the widths of two spectral lines.Naming citation (20071124/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Olinwilson is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Olinwilson is 2.28 au from the Sun and 1.88 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 12138 |
| Provisional designation | 4053 P-L |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 3.24 km (#14,616 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.351 |
| Rotation period | 14.4 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.58 |
| Orbital period | 3.91 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.48 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.19 – 2.77 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.116 |
| Inclination | 6.36° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.19 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also discovered on 24 September 1960
- (1743) Schmidt
- (1744) Harriet
- (1776) Kuiper
- (1777) Gehrels
- (1795) Woltjer
- (1808) Bellerophon
- (1809) Prometheus
- (1810) Epimetheus
- (1811) Bruwer
- (1812) Gilgamesh
- (1846) Bengt
- (1868) Thersites