(9902) Kirkpatrick

Template: Infobox Asteroid / Maintenance / Error 1

( 9902 ) Kirkpatrick is an asteroid of the inner main belt, which was discovered by the Italian-American astronomer Paul G. Comba on 3 July 1997 at the Prescott Observatory in Prescott, Arizona ( IAU code 684). Unconfirmed sightings of the asteroid it had already given several times: on December 11, 1988 at the Argentine Felix Aguilar Observatory (1988 AR2), on September 9, 1994 at the Karl Schwarzschild Observatory in Tautenburg (1994 RK29 ) and on 13 March 1996 at the Kitt Peak located on the seaward position of the Steward Observatory (1996 EJ16 ).

Mean distance from the sun ( semimajor axis), eccentricity and inclination of the orbital plane of the asteroid corresponding to the Flora family, a large group of asteroids that is named after ( 8) flora. Asteroids of this family move in an orbital resonance of 4:9 with the planet Mars around the Sun. The group is also called Ariadne family after the asteroid (43 ) Ariadne.

( 9902 ) Kirkpatrick was named after the American harpsichordist and high school teacher Ralph Kirkpatrick on April 2, 1999.