(10454) Vallenar Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 9 July 1978 by H.-E. Schuster at La Silla.
Vallenar, capital of the Chilean province of Huasco, is located some 90 km north of the La Silla observatory site. Established at the southern edge of the Atacama desert in 1789 by Ambrosio O'Higgins as Villa San Ambrosio de Ballenary, Vallenar now has a population of 53~000 and is famous for iron mining and sweet grapes.Naming citation (20030501/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Vallenar is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Vallenar is 2.28 au from the Sun and 2.36 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 10454 |
| Provisional designation | 1978 NY |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 3.07 km (#15,033 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.383 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.5 |
| Orbital period | 3.58 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.34 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.05 – 2.63 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.122 |
| Inclination | 5.93° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.06 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.