(22740) Rayleigh Outer Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 20 September 1998 by E. W. Elst at La Silla.
John William Rayleigh (1842-1919) was an English physicist who discovered the element argon, for which he was honored with the Nobel Prize for physics in 1904. President of the Royal Society from 1905 to 1908, he is also known for his work on the phenomenon of Rayleigh scattering, explaining the blue color of the daytime sky.Naming citation (20070601/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Rayleigh is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Rayleigh is 2.56 au from the Sun and 2.64 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 22740 |
| Provisional designation | 1998 SX146 |
| Orbit class | Outer Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 9.82 km (#5,213 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.0880 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 13.48 |
| Orbital period | 5.83 years |
| Semi-major axis | 3.24 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.54 – 3.94 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.216 |
| Inclination | 3.12° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.53 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
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