9495 Eminescu is an 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...

 named after Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

n poet Mihai Eminescu

Mihai Eminescu

Mihai Eminescu was a Romantic poet, novelist and journalist, often regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and he worked as an editor for the newspaper Timpul , the official newspaper of the Conservative Party...

.

It was discovered in 1971 at the Palomar Observatory

Palomar Observatory

Palomar Observatory is a privately owned observatory located in San Diego County, California, southeast of Pasadena's Mount Wilson Observatory, in the Palomar Mountain Range. At approximately elevation, it is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology...

. It circles the Sun in 1,180.13 days (3.23 years), at an average distance from the Earth of 250 million Kilometers. Its diameter is does not exceed 6 km. It can approach the Earth at the minimum distance of 140,000,000 km.

When discovered the day of March 26, 1971 by the American astronomers C. J. van Houten, I. van Houten-Groeneveld and T. Gehrels, they named it simply 9495. In the year 2000, which was declared in Romania the Eminescu Year, the International Astronomical Union

International Astronomical Union

The International Astronomical Union IAU is a collection of professional astronomers, at the Ph.D. level and beyond, active in professional research and education in astronomy...

added the name Eminescu.

External links

• Romanian astronomical names