12359 Cajigal, provisional designation , is a carbonaceous Themistian
asteroid
An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere.
...
from the outer region of the
asteroid belt
The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...
, approximately 12 kilometers in diameter.
The asteroid was discovered on 22 September 1993, by Venezuelan astronomer Orlando Naranjo at the
Llano del Hato National Astronomical Observatory
The Llano del Hato National Astronomical Observatory ( es, OAN de Llano del Hato, or Observatorio Astronómico Nacional de Llano del Hato, code: 303) is an astronomical observatory in Venezuela. It is 3600 meters above sea level and is the country ...
, Mérida, located in the Venezuelan Andes. It was named after Venezuelan politician and scientist
Juan Manuel Cajigal y Odoardo
Juan Manuel Cajigal y Odoardo (1803 in Barcelona, Anzoátegui – 1856 in Yaguaraparo, Sucre) was a Venezuelan mathematician, engineer and statesman.
Orphaned at age 7, he was raised in Spain by his cousin-once-removed, Field Marshal Juan Manuel C ...
.
Orbit and classification
''Cajigal'' is a member of the
Themis family The Themis family (''adj. Themistian''; ) is a Asteroid family, family of carbonaceous asteroids located in the Kirkwood gap, outer portion of the asteroid belt, at a mean distance of 3.13 Astronomical Unit, AU from the Sun. It is one of the Asteroi ...