(20543) Michaelfauerbach Outer Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 7 September 1999 by LINEAR at Socorro.
Michael Fauerbach (b. 1965) is a German-American Professor of Physics & Astronomy at Florida Gulf Coast University. Originally a nuclear astrophysicist, he has spent the past two decades focusing on asteroid photometry and shape modeling.Naming citation (WGSBN Bull. 6, #11, 26), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Michaelfauerbach is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Michaelfauerbach is 3.15 au from the Sun and 3.85 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 20543 |
| Provisional designation | 1999 RZ98 |
| Orbit class | Outer Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 18.1 km (#2,487 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.0500 |
| Rotation period | 10.5 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 12.71 |
| Orbital period | 5.77 years |
| Semi-major axis | 3.22 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 3.10 – 3.34 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0383 |
| Inclination | 21.8° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 2.15 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
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