Discovered by P. G. Comba MPC designation 49777 Cappi Minor planet category main-belt · (inner) Absolute magnitude 15.6 Discoverer Paul G. Comba Asteroid group Asteroid belt | Discovery date 2 December 1999 Alternative names 1999 XS · 2001 KD31 Discovered 2 December 1999 Orbits Sun Discovery site Prescott Observatory | |
Named after Margaret Comba
(discoverer's wife) | ||
49777 Cappi, provisional designation 1999 XS, is a stony asteroid from the inner regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 2 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 2 December 1999, by Italian–American astronomer Paul Comba at the U.S. Prescott Observatory in Arizona.
The assumed S-type asteroid orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.2–2.5 AU once every 3 years and 7 months (1,321 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.07 and an inclination of 4° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Steward Observatory (Kitt Peak) in 1991, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 8 years prior to its discovery.
A rotational light-curve was obtained from photometric observation made in September 2013, at the Palomar Transient Factory in California. It showed a rotation period of 7000593890000000000♠5.9389±0.0018 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.78 in magnitude (U=2). The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes a standard albedo for stony asteroids of 0.20 and calculates a diameter of 1.85 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 16.02.
The minor planet was named after Margaret Capitola Sonntag Comba (b. 1940), a psychologist and art therapist by profession, faculty member at Prescott College, and wife of the discoverer. Naming citation was published on 4 May 2004 (M.P.C. 51981).