(12286) Poiseuille Main-belt Asteroid

Discovered on 8 April 1991 by E. W. Elst at La Silla.

Jean Louis Marie Poiseuille (1797-1869) was a French physicist and physiologist who, through his work on the pressure of blood, became interested in the resistance of the flow of viscous fluids in small tubes. This led to the formulation of the Hagen-Poiseuille Law. The unit of viscosity is named the poise.Naming citation (20091004/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL

Where Poiseuille is today

Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Poiseuille is 2.38 au from the Sun and 1.78 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.

Facts

Number	12286
Provisional designation	1991 GY4
Orbit class	Main-belt Asteroid
Diameter	2.65 km (#15,966 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size)
Albedo	0.332
Rotation period	2.60 hours
Absolute magnitude (H)	14.99
Orbital period	3.35 years
Semi-major axis	2.24 au
Perihelion – aphelion	2.09 – 2.39 au
Eccentricity	0.0656
Inclination	2.08°
Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID)	1.08 au

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

Also named after someone called Jean

All asteroids named after someone called Jean

Also discovered on 8 April 1991

More named asteroids discovered by E. W. Elst

All 1035

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