Eric Walter Elst

Eric Walter Elst (30 November 1936 – 2 January 2022) was a Belgian astronomer at the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Uccle and a prolific discoverer of asteroids. As of 2026, the Minor Planet Center ranks him among the top 15 discoverers of minor planets with thousands of discoveries made at ESO's La Silla Observatory in northern Chile and at the Rozhen Observatory in Bulgaria during 1986–2005.^[1]

The minor planet 3936 Elst, a stony Vestian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, roughly 6 kilometers in diameter, was named in his honour.^[2][3]

Elst is credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of 3795 numbered minor planets made between 1986 and 2005.^[1]

Notable discoveries include 4486 Mithra, a near-Earth and Apollo asteroid, 7968 Elst-Pizarro, which is classified as both asteroid and comet, and more than 30 Jupiter trojans.^[4] His discoveries also include:

• Binary asteroids such as 4492 Debussy and 15268 Wendelinefroger
• Amor asteroids such as 21088 Chelyabinsk
• Many main-belt asteroids such as 9936 Al-Biruni (outer MBA), 12838 Adamsmith (Koronian), 13058 Alfredstevens (Vestian), 13070 Seanconnery (inner MBA), and 13963 Euphrates which orbits in a 2:1 resonance with Jupiter

In December 2017, the asteroid 13975 Beatrixpotter, discovered by Elst in 1992, was renamed in memory of the writer, artist, and naturalist.^[5]

Minor planet articles also exist for 12696 Camus, 8116 Jeanperrin, 22740 Rayleigh, 6267 Rozhen and 9951 Tyrannosaurus, among others.