(4448) Phildavis Main-belt Asteroid

Discovered on 5 March 1986 by C. S. Shoemaker at Palomar.

Named for Philip A. Davis, planetary geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and chief of the Branch of Astrogeology since 1989. Davis has worked on the global geochemistry and petrology of the moon and the geology of Mars, Venus and Arabia. He is known especially for the techniques he has developed for the extraction of quantitative topographic information from spacecraft images and for analyzing global patterns of geological and geophysical data.Naming citation (WGSBN Bull. 4, #10, 4), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL

Where Phildavis is today

Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Phildavis is 2.37 au from the Sun and 3.24 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.

Facts

Number	4448
Provisional designation	1986 EO
Orbit class	Main-belt Asteroid
Diameter	12.7 km (#3,836 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size)
Albedo	0.174
Rotation period	14.9 hours
Absolute magnitude (H)	12.0
Orbital period	4.07 years
Semi-major axis	2.55 au
Perihelion – aphelion	2.33 – 2.77 au
Eccentricity	0.0857
Inclination	16.8°
Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID)	1.37 au

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

Also named after someone called Philip

All asteroids named after someone called Philip

Also discovered on 5 March 1986

More named asteroids discovered by C. S. Shoemaker

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