1991 Darwin

1991 Darwin, provisional designation 1967 JL, is a stony asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, about 5 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 6 May 1967, by Argentine astronomers Carlos Cesco and Arnold Klemola at the El Leoncito, Yale–Columbia Southern Station, Félix Aguilar Observatory in Argentina.

The S-type asteroid is a member of the Flora family, one of the largest groups of stony asteroids in the main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 1.8–2.7 AU once every 3 years and 4 months (1,231 days). Its orbit is tilted by 6 degrees to the plane of the ecliptic and shows an eccentricity of 0.21. It has a rotation period of 4.7 hours and an albedo of about 0.25, according to observations made by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer.

The asteroid is named in memory of famous English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882), first to established the theory of biological evolution. While on research in Argentina, he crossed the Andes relatively near to the Leoncito Astronomical Complex where the minor planet has been discovered. The asteroid also honors George Darwin (1845–1912), his second son who was a noted astronomer for his pioneering application of detailed dynamical analyses to problems of cosmogony and geology. The Darwins are also honored by the lunar and Martian craters Darwin.