(6541) Yuan Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 26 February 1984 by H. Debehogne at La Silla.
Dah-Ning Yuan (b. 1956), a senior scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has been a key contributor to the determination of the earth's gravity field using the ultra precise spacecraft-to-spacecraft ranging data from the twin GRACE spacecraft.Naming citation (20100130/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
👶 Yuan as a baby name🐶 Yuan as a dog name
Where Yuan is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Yuan is 3.25 au from the Sun and 2.25 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 6541 |
| Provisional designation | 1984 DY |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 14.3 km (#3,315 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.0720 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 12.95 |
| Orbital period | 5.53 years |
| Semi-major axis | 3.13 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.67 – 3.58 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.145 |
| Inclination | 0.707° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.69 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Ning
All asteroids named after someone called Ning