(20601) Qasimafghan Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 8 September 1999 by LINEAR at Socorro.
Qasim Afghan (b. 1996) is a British scientist who studied cometary dust tails at University College London’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory in pursuit of his Ph.D. He researched dust grains’ size distributions, and discovered gaps in some comets’ dust tails linked to reduced activity levels.Naming citation (WGSBN Bull. 6, #11, 30), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Qasimafghan is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Qasimafghan is 3.29 au from the Sun and 3.39 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 20601 |
| Provisional designation | 1999 RD197 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Rotation period | 3.34 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.0 |
| Orbital period | 4.29 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.64 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 1.86 – 3.42 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.295 |
| Inclination | 6.71° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 0.845 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also discovered on 8 September 1999
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