(20538) Masakifujimoto Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 7 September 1999 by LINEAR at Socorro.
Masaki Fujimoto (b. 1964) is a Japanese researcher and the Director General of JAXA/ISAS, the science institute of the Japanese space agency. He coordinated multiple international collaborations for asteroid space missions. Masaki is one of the founding fathers of MMX, the JAXA mission to return samples from the Martian moon Phobos.Naming citation (WGSBN Bull. 6, #11, 25), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Masakifujimoto is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Masakifujimoto is 2.08 au from the Sun and 3.06 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 20538 |
| Provisional designation | 1999 RN84 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Rotation period | 5.78 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.68 |
| Orbital period | 3.50 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.31 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 1.78 – 2.83 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.228 |
| Inclination | 2.55° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 0.765 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also discovered on 7 September 1999
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