(12168) Polko Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 25 September 1973 by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T. at Palomar.
Norbert Polko (b. 1944) has scanned more than 200~000 glass plates---a world record---from the largest European astronomical plate archive, at the Sonneberg Observatory. The name was suggested by R. Hudec.Naming citation (20081113/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Polko is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Polko is 3.04 au from the Sun and 2.38 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 12168 |
| Provisional designation | 5141 T-2 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 11.6 km (#4,280 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.156 |
| Rotation period | 9.41 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 12.91 |
| Orbital period | 5.23 years |
| Semi-major axis | 3.01 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.72 – 3.30 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0965 |
| Inclination | 9.53° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.71 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Norbert
All asteroids named after someone called Norbert
Also discovered on 25 September 1973
- (3157) Novikov
- (4303) Savitskij
- (4811) Semashko
- (4877) Humboldt
- (5412) Rou
- (6162) Prokhorov
- (6682) Makarij
- (6938) Soniaterk
- (8319) Antiphanes
- (8773) Torquilla
- (8774) Viridis
- (8974) Gregaria