9902 Kirkpatrick

9902 Kirkpatrick, provisional designation, is a Florian asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 4 kilometers in diameter. The asteroid was discovered on 3 July 1997, by American amateur astronomer Paul Comba at Prescott Observatory in Arizona, United States, and named after American musician Ralph Kirkpatrick.

Orbit and classification
Kirkpatrick is a member of the Flora family. It orbits the Sun in the inner main-belt at a distance of 2.0–2.4 AU once every 3 years and 3 months (1,200 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.08 and an inclination of 5° with respect to the ecliptic. It was first identified as at El Leoncito in 1988, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 9 years prior to its official discovery at Prescott.

Rotation period
As of 2017, the asteroid's rotation period and shape remain unknown.

Diameter and albedo
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Kirkpatrick measures 17.8 and 3.611 kilometers in diameter, respectively. WISE/NEOWISE also gives an albedo of 0.179 for the body's surface. It has an absolute magnitude of 14.4.

Naming
This minor planet was named after Ralph Kirkpatrick (1911–1984), an American musician, musicologist and harpsichordist. He has written a biography of Domenico Scarlatti and published a chronological catalog of his keyboard sonatas (also see ). Kirkpatrick studied 17th and 18th century performance practices in chamber music and gave concerts playing the works by Scarlatti and Bach (also see ). The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 2 April 1999 (M.P.C. 34356).