8661 Ratzinger

Ratzinger
Discovery and designation
Discovered by Lutz D. Schmadel and Freimut Börngen
Discovery site Tautenburg
Discovery date October 14, 1990
Designations
MPC designation 8661
Named after
 Pope Benedict XVI
1990 TA13
Orbital characteristics
Epoch May 14, 2008
Aphelion 3.1254146
Perihelion 2.8822456
Eccentricity 0.0404765
1901.5662673
75.42951
Inclination 10.56373
38.42747
80.48693
Physical characteristics
12.6

    8661 Ratzinger (1990 TA13) is a main-belt asteroid discovered on October 14, 1990 by Lutz D. Schmadel and Freimut Börngen at Tautenburg. The asteroid was named after then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (who later became Pope Benedict XVI) for the role he played in supervising the opening of Vatican archives in 1998 to researchers investigating judicial errors against Galileo and other medieval scientists. The name was proposed by the asteroid's first discoverers.[1]

    References

    1. ↑ "8661 Ratzinger (1990 TA13)". NASA. Retrieved 28 February 2013.