(20592) Payne Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 9 September 1999 by LINEAR at Socorro.
Matthew J. Payne (b. 1978) is an English planetary scientist. He has worked at the Minor Planet Center since 2017 and became Director in 2021. Matthew earned his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. His research spans Solar System and exoplanet dynamics, planetary defense, and the processing of large survey datasets from TESS, Pan-STARRS, and LSST.Naming citation (WGSBN Bull. 6, #11, 29), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
👶 Payne as a baby name🐶 Payne as a dog name
Where Payne is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Payne is 3.14 au from the Sun and 3.55 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 20592 |
| Provisional designation | 1999 RV177 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 11.9 km (#4,125 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.0660 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 13.39 |
| Orbital period | 5.64 years |
| Semi-major axis | 3.17 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.85 – 3.49 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.101 |
| Inclination | 9.97° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.85 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
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All asteroids named after someone called Matthew
Also discovered on 9 September 1999
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