(12258) Oscarwilde Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 3 April 1989 by E. W. Elst at La Silla.
The great Anglo-Irish playwright Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) will always be remembered for this line “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”, uttered by Lord Darlington and questioned by Mr. Dumby in the third act of Wilde's play Lady Windermere's Fan (1892).Naming citation (20040107/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Oscarwilde is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Oscarwilde is 2.34 au from the Sun and 3.32 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 12258 |
| Provisional designation | 1989 GN4 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 3.63 km (#13,626 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.280 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.65 |
| Orbital period | 4.18 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.59 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.24 – 2.95 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.138 |
| Inclination | 2.82° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.22 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Oscar
All asteroids named after someone called Oscar
Also discovered on 3 April 1989
- (5350) Epetersen
- (6006) Anaximandros
- (6152) Empedocles
- (6710) Apostel
- (7014) Nietzsche
- (7933) Magritte
- (8010) Bohnhardt
- (8353) Megryan
- (9325) Stonehenge
- (9578) Klyazma
- (9579) Passchendaele
- (9749) Van den Eijnde