(8860) Rohloff Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 5 October 1991 by Schmadel, L. D., Borngen, F. at Tautenburg.
Ralf-Rainer Rohloff (b. 1960) is a design engineer on the staff of the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Heidelberg. Head of the construction team, he played an important role in the development of adaptive optics devices for the MPIA and UKIRT telescopes. The name was suggested by the first discoverer.Naming citation (20001111/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Rohloff is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Rohloff is 2.47 au from the Sun and 3.35 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 8860 |
| Provisional designation | 1991 TE5 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 8.88 km (#5,848 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.156 |
| Rotation period | 18.8 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 12.68 |
| Orbital period | 4.06 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.54 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.30 – 2.78 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0945 |
| Inclination | 13.9° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.33 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Rainer
All asteroids named after someone called Rainer