(10968) Sterken Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 26 March 1971 by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T. at Palomar.
Christiaan Sterken (b. 1946), an astronomer at the Free University of Brussels, has a particular interest in β Sct, δ Sct and S Dor stars. He established the working group on Long-Term Photometry of Variables at the European Southern Observatory and was co-founder of the Journal of Astronomical Data (1995).Naming citation (20060219/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Sterken is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Sterken is 2.80 au from the Sun and 3.74 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 10968 |
| Provisional designation | 4393 T-1 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 7.12 km (#7,488 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.0870 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.29 |
| Orbital period | 5.54 years |
| Semi-major axis | 3.13 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.79 – 3.47 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.107 |
| Inclination | 2.44° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.79 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Christiaan
All asteroids named after someone called Christiaan
Also discovered on 26 March 1971
- (5195) Kaendler
- (5491) Kaulbach
- (5492) Thoma
- (5698) Nolde
- (6202) Georgemiley
- (6257) Thorvaldsen
- (6351) Neumann
- (6429) Brancusi
- (6674) Cezanne
- (6752) Ashley
- (7367) Giotto
- (7908) Zwingli