(6809) Sakuma Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 20 February 1938 by K. Reinmuth at Heidelberg.
Named in honor of Seiichi Sakuma (b. 1929), a Japanese amateur astronomer and an eminent observer of variable stars since 1942. Sakuma played the principal role in founding the Variable Star Observers League in Japan, publishing its Variable Star Bulletin and constructing its database of more than one million Japanese observations of some 4000 variable stars. This database contains observations back to 1906 and includes more than 30 000 magnitude estimates by Sakuma. Name proposed by H. Oishi, who made the principal identifications involving this minor planet.Naming citation (19961026/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Sakuma is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Sakuma is 2.41 au from the Sun and 2.00 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 6809 |
| Provisional designation | 1938 DM1 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 5.57 km (#9,623 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.328 |
| Rotation period | 2.57 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 13.52 |
| Orbital period | 3.63 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.36 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.12 – 2.61 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.105 |
| Inclination | 6.08° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.11 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Seiichi
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