49777 Cappi
Asteroid
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49777 Cappi (provisional designation 1999 XS) is a stony background asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 2 kilometers in diameter.
| Discovery[1] | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | P. G. Comba |
| Discovery site | Prescott Obs. |
| Discovery date | 2 December 1999 |
| Designations | |
| (49777) Cappi | |
Named after | Margaret Comba (discoverer's wife)[2] |
| 1999 XS · 2001 KD31 | |
| main-belt · (inner)[3] background[4] | |
| Orbital characteristics[1] | |
| Epoch 4 September 2017 (JD 2458000.5) | |
| Uncertainty parameter 0 | |
| Observation arc | 24.96 yr (9,115 days) |
| Aphelion | 2.5138 AU |
| Perihelion | 2.1982 AU |
| 2.3560 AU | |
| Eccentricity | 0.0670 |
| 3.62 yr (1,321 days) | |
| 183.85° | |
| 0° 16m 21s / day | |
| Inclination | 4.4688° |
| 237.61° | |
| 341.93° | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| 1.85 km (calculated)[3] | |
| 5.9389±0.0018 h[5] | |
| 0.20 (assumed)[3] | |
| S (assumed)[3] | |
| 15.6[1] · 15.92±0.23[6] · 15.575±0.010 (R)[5] · 16.02[3] | |
The asteroid was discovered on 2 December 1999, by Italian–American astronomer Paul Comba at the Prescott Observatory in Arizona, United States.[7] It was named after the discoverer's wife, Margaret Capitola Sonntag Comba.[2]
Orbit and classification
Cappi is a non-family from the main belt's background population.[4] It orbits the Sun in the inner asteroid belt at a distance of 2.2–2.5 AU once every 3 years and 7 months (1,321 days; semi-major axis of 2.36 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.07 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic.[1]
The asteroid's observation arc begins 8 years prior to its official discovery observation, with a precovery taken by the Steward Observatory's Spacewatch survey at Kitt Peak in September 1991.[7]
Physical characteristics
Cappi is an assumed stony S-type asteroid.[3]
Rotation and shape
In September 2013, a rotational lightcurve of Cappi was obtained from photometric observation taken in the R-band at the Palomar Transient Factory in California. It showed a rotation period of 5.9389 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.78 magnitude (U=2), indicating a non-spheroidal shape.[5]
Diameter and albedo estimate
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 1.85 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 16.02.[3]
Naming
This minor planet was named after Margaret Capitola Sonntag Comba (born 1940), a psychologist and art therapist by profession, faculty member at Prescott College, and wife of the discoverer.[7] The approved naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 4 May 2004 (M.P.C. 51981).[8]
