(31020) Skarupa Outer Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 17 March 1996 by AMOS at Haleakala.
Valerie Skarupa (b. 1966) was the AMOS Program Manager for many years, ensuring that funding and support was always available for the AMOS Asteroid Program and the NEAT program. Appropriately, this Hilda object is one of the most far-out discoveries of the AMOS Team.Naming citation (20070601/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Skarupa is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Skarupa is 3.90 au from the Sun and 3.75 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 31020 |
| Provisional designation | 1996 FP1 |
| Orbit class | Outer Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 12.8 km (#3,787 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.0750 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 13.21 |
| Orbital period | 7.96 years |
| Semi-major axis | 3.99 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 3.51 – 4.46 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.119 |
| Inclination | 3.47° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 2.51 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Valerie
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- (13325) Valerienataf
- (14278) Perrenot
- (18581) Batllo
- (18969) Valfriedmann
- (20755) Valeriegodard
- (27392) Valerieding
- (28673) Valholmes
- (29800) Valeriesarge
- (31859) Zemaitis
- (170487) Mallder
- (198989) Valeriethomas
All asteroids named after someone called Valerie