(21521) Hippalgaonkar Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 23 May 1998 by LINEAR at Socorro.
Varun Rajendra Hippalgaonkar (b. 1989) was awarded second place in the 2006 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for his botany team project. He attends the Lake Highland Preparatory School, Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.Naming citation (20060711/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Hippalgaonkar is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Hippalgaonkar is 2.98 au from the Sun and 3.81 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 21521 |
| Provisional designation | 1998 KU55 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 6.16 km (#8,701 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.203 |
| Rotation period | 3.23 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 13.46 |
| Orbital period | 4.09 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.56 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.11 – 3.00 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.174 |
| Inclination | 8.13° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.14 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also discovered on 23 May 1998
- (12864) Ryandrake
- (18730) Wingip
- (18731) Vil'bakirov
- (19494) Gerbs
- (19495) Terentyeva
- (19500) Hillaryfultz
- (20366) Bonev
- (20367) Erikagibb
- (20382) Hiroshinaraoka
- (20383) Hirotakasawada
- (20384) Hongsuhyim
- (20385) Horiuchi