6229 Tursachan is a main-belt

Asteroid belt

The asteroid belt is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets...

 asteroid

Asteroid

Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

 discovered on November 4, 1983 by B. A. Skiff at the Anderson Mesa Station of the Lowell Observatory.

Citation

The name is "Standing Stones" in Gaelic, a term used to refer to the stones placed during neolithic times into small or large groups, often into circles, throughout the British Isles. Many of these arrangements exhibit astronomical alignments, and are thought to have been used in at least some cases to track the progression of seasons and mark the occurrence of other significant astronomical events. The name was suggested by Alice Cathryne Dennis, seventh-grade student at The Mountain School in Flagstaff, Arizona, as winner of a contest to name this asteroid in conjunction with the 1997 Flagstaff Festival of Science. Citation prepared by C. B. Luginbuhl.

External links

• JPL Small-Body Database Browser on 6229 Tursachan
• Outer Hebrides website discussing naming process