(20051) Phanostrate Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 21 March 1993 by UESAC at La Silla.
Phanostrate (4th century BCE) was a Greek midwife and physician who is, according to existing documentation, the first woman to have been called “physician” in the history of ancient Greece. A (now disappeared) statue bearing the effigy of Phanostrate in the Asclepieion of Athens testifies to the local importance and fame which she enjoyed at the time.Naming citation (WGSBN Bull. 6, #14, 4), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Phanostrate is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Phanostrate is 2.92 au from the Sun and 2.27 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 20051 |
| Provisional designation | 1993 FE26 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 5.92 km (#9,057 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.0360 |
| Rotation period | 3.71 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 15.25 |
| Orbital period | 4.47 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.71 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.28 – 3.15 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.161 |
| Inclination | 7.74° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.31 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also discovered on 21 March 1993
- (5630) Billschaefer
- (6102) Visby
- (6528) Boden
- (6796) Sundsvall
- (6797) Ostersund
- (7595) Vaxjo
- (7831) Francois-Xavier
- (8535) Pellesvanslos
- (8536) Mans
- (8537) Billochbull
- (8538) Gammelmaja
- (8697) Olofsson