(9231) Shimaken Main-belt Asteroid

Discovered on 29 January 1997 by T. Kobayashi at Oizumi.

Shimaken is the research group led by Toshihiko Shimamoto (b. 1946), a professor emeritus of Kyoto University. The group reproduced seismogenic fault motion in the laboratory and found that the fault motion itself dramatically weakens the fault by frictional heating and promotes generation of large earthquakes.Naming citation (20100726/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL

Where Shimaken is today

Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Shimaken is 1.91 au from the Sun and 2.52 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.

Facts

Number	9231
Provisional designation	1997 BB2
Orbit class	Main-belt Asteroid
Diameter	3.77 km (#13,287 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size)
Albedo	0.285
Rotation period	10.9 hours
Absolute magnitude (H)	14.41
Orbital period	3.17 years
Semi-major axis	2.16 au
Perihelion – aphelion	1.87 – 2.45 au
Eccentricity	0.133
Inclination	3.13°
Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID)	0.855 au

Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.

Also named after someone called Toshihiko

(23886) Toshihamane

All asteroids named after someone called Toshihiko

Also discovered on 29 January 1997

More named asteroids discovered by T. Kobayashi

All 288

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