(6098) Mutojunkyu Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 31 October 1991 by Matsuyama, M., Watanabe, K. at Kushiro.
Junkyu Muto (b. 1950) is famous worldwide as a Japanese sculptor and painter living in Rome. His series of Kazenowa (“circle wind”) sculptures is particularly well known, and in 2000 one of them was installed permanently at the papal villa in Castel Gandolfo as its first abstract sculpture as a monument to world peace.Naming citation (WGSBN Bull. 3, #13, 10), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Mutojunkyu is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Mutojunkyu is 2.70 au from the Sun and 3.69 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 6098 |
| Provisional designation | 1991 UW3 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 3.68 km (#13,502 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.359 |
| Rotation period | 2.78 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.45 |
| Orbital period | 3.32 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.23 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 1.70 – 2.75 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.236 |
| Inclination | 4.97° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 0.704 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.