(8358) Rickblakley Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 4 November 1989 by Shoemaker, C. S., Levy, D. H. at Palomar.
Since building his first telescope at age 8, Rick Blakley (b. 1949) has become a mostly self-taught mechanical, structural and optical engineer. He has designed instrumentation for several large telescopes, including every detail of the beautiful new stereomicroscope now in use for the Shoemaker-Levy Double Cometograph.Naming citation (19991123/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Rickblakley is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Rickblakley is 2.10 au from the Sun and 1.11 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 8358 |
| Provisional designation | 1989 VN5 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.81 |
| Orbital period | 3.70 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.39 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 1.96 – 2.83 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.182 |
| Inclination | 1.61° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 0.974 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Rick
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