(12227) Penney Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 11 October 1985 by Shoemaker, C. S., Shoemaker, E. M. at Palomar.
Big John Penney is representative of the team of workers who find a deep and abiding love for the challenges and rigors of wintering at South Pole Station. He has a unique capability for keeping machines operating under the worst and coldest of conditions by treating them like friends.Naming citation (20020128/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
👶 Penney as a baby name🐶 Penney as a dog name
Where Penney is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Penney is 1.84 au from the Sun and 0.955 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 12227 |
| Provisional designation | 1985 TO3 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 2.12 km (#16,889 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.623 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.9 |
| Orbital period | 3.43 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.27 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 1.84 – 2.71 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.190 |
| Inclination | 5.65° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 0.846 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also discovered on 11 October 1985
- (3640) Gostin
- (3793) Leonteus
- (4253) Marker
- (4892) Chrispollas
- (5023) Agapenor
- (6543) Senna
- (27706) Strogen