(13117) Pondicherry Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 9 October 1993 by E. W. Elst at La Silla.
Pondicherry is a city on the Coromandel coast in southeast India, founded by the French in 1674. In 1760 the astronomer Le Gentil traveled there to observe the transits of Venus in 1761 and 1769. Today the city is a popular destination for tourists.Naming citation (20050407/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Pondicherry is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Pondicherry is 3.07 au from the Sun and 3.99 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 13117 |
| Provisional designation | 1993 TW38 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 7.16 km (#7,451 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.165 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 13.68 |
| Orbital period | 5.13 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.98 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.83 – 3.13 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0504 |
| Inclination | 9.88° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.82 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also discovered on 9 October 1993
- (7098) Reaumur
- (8299) Tealeoni
- (8395) Rembaut
- (8541) Schalkenmehren
- (9203) Myrtus
- (9383) Montelimar
- (9384) Aransio
- (9385) Avignon
- (10358) Kirchhoff
- (12363) Marinmarais
- (12759) Joule
- (12760) Maxwell