(17438) Quasimodo Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 26 September 1989 by E. W. Elst at La Silla.
Salvatore Quasimodo (1901-1968), an Italian novelist and poet, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1959. One of the foremost poets of the 20th century, he devoted himself to the translation of the Gospel of John, some of Catullus' cantos and several episodes from the Odyssey.Naming citation (MPC batch dated 2018-03-31), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Quasimodo is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Quasimodo is 2.19 au from the Sun and 3.17 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 17438 |
| Provisional designation | 1989 SQ4 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 5.48 km (#9,735 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.0640 |
| Rotation period | 3.01 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.93 |
| Orbital period | 3.54 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.32 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.02 – 2.63 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.132 |
| Inclination | 3.32° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.03 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Salvatore
All asteroids named after someone called Salvatore
Also discovered on 26 September 1989
- (4798) Mercator
- (5351) Diderot
- (5873) Archilochos
- (6240) Lucretius Carus
- (6777) Balakirev
- (6826) Lavoisier
- (7056) Kierkegaard
- (7647) Etrepigny
- (7934) Sinatra
- (8488) d'Argens
- (8649) Juglans
- (8834) Anacardium