9860 Archaeopteryx
Encyclopedia
9860 Archaeopteryx is a main-belt
asteroid
discovered on August 6, 1991 by Eric Walter Elst
at the European Southern Observatory
. It is named after the earliest known bird Archaeopteryx
, which dates from the Jurassic Period.
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 August 6, 1991 by Eric Walter Elst
Eric Walter Elst
Eric Walter Elst is a Belgian astronomer and a prolific discoverer of asteroids, with over 3,000 discovered so far ....
at the European Southern Observatory
European Southern Observatory
The European Southern Observatory is an intergovernmental research organisation for astronomy, supported by fifteen countries...
. It is named after the earliest known bird Archaeopteryx
Archaeopteryx
Archaeopteryx , sometimes referred to by its German name Urvogel , is a genus of theropod dinosaur that is closely related to birds. The name derives from the Ancient Greek meaning "ancient", and , meaning "feather" or "wing"...
, which dates from the Jurassic Period.