(12623) Tawaddud Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 17 October 1960 by van Houten, C. J., van Houten-Groeneveld, I., Gehrels, T. at Palomar.
A fictional character from the Arabian or 1001 Nights, Tawaddud was a talented slave-girl from Baghdad whose knowledge of astronomy, medicine and theology was superior to that of the best scholars in the court of Caliph Harun al-Rashid (who ruled from 786 to 809). The name was suggested by R. H. van Gent.Naming citation (20090409/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Tawaddud is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Tawaddud is 2.44 au from the Sun and 1.76 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 12623 |
| Provisional designation | 9544 P-L |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 3.63 km (#13,641 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.234 |
| Rotation period | 15.9 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.59 |
| Orbital period | 3.85 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.46 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.32 – 2.59 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0541 |
| Inclination | 4.86° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.31 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also discovered on 17 October 1960
- (1813) Imhotep
- (2082) Galahad
- (2319) Aristides
- (2412) Wil
- (2495) Noviomagum
- (3279) Solon
- (3604) Berkhuijsen
- (3734) Waland
- (4355) Memphis
- (4356) Marathon
- (4907) Zoser
- (5012) Eurymedon