(25399) Vonnegut Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 11 November 1999 by C. W. Juels at Fountain Hills.
Kurt Vonnegut (b. 1922) is a revolutionary U.S. science-fiction writer who crossed over into mainstream literature and is often referred to as the “Mark Twain of the second half of the twentieth century”. He is most famous for his novel Slaughterhouse 5.Naming citation (20020724/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Vonnegut is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Vonnegut is 2.47 au from the Sun and 3.35 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 25399 |
| Provisional designation | 1999 VN20 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 6.76 km (#7,928 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.267 |
| Rotation period | 11.6 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 13.09 |
| Orbital period | 4.15 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.58 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.36 – 2.81 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0878 |
| Inclination | 22.5° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.37 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Kurt
- (5470) Kurtlindstrom
- (11899) Weill
- (12401) Tucholsky
- (13269) Dahlstrom
- (16044) Kurtbachmann
- (16874) Kurtwahl
- (73670) Kurthopf
- (489603) Kurtschreckling
All asteroids named after someone called Kurt