6377 Cagney

6377 Cagney, provisional designation 1987 ML₁, is a carbonaceous Eunomia asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt, approximately 9 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 25 June 1987, by Czech astronomer Antonín Mrkos at South Bohemian Kleť Observatory in the Czech Republic.

The C-type asteroid is a member of the Eunomia family, the most prominent family of otherwise stony asteroids in the intermediate main-belt. It orbits the Sun at a distance of 2.2–3.0 AU once every 4 years and 3 months (1,549 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.16 and an inclination of 15° with respect to the ecliptic. The first precovery was taken at Palomar Observatory in 1951, extending the asteroid's observation arc by 36 years prior to its discovery.

In February 2008, a photometric light-curve analysis by Slovak astronomer Adrián Galád at the Modra Observatory gave a rotation period of 7000417100000000000♠4.171±0.003 hours with a brightness variation of 0.20 in magnitude (U=3). The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link assumes an albedo of 0.21 (which is typical for stony asteroids and contradicts its C-type classification) and calculates a diameter of 9.2 kilometers, based on an absolute magnitude of 12.5. Alternatively, based NASA's generic magnitude-to-size conversion table, and assuming a rather typical albedo for carbonaceous asteroids of 0.05, the body's diameter would increase to 19 kilometers.

The minor planet was named in memory of American actor and dancer James Cagney (1899–1986), remembered best for playing multifaceted tough guys in movies such as The Public Enemy (1931) and Angels with Dirty Faces (1938). In 1942, Cagney won the Oscar for his energetic portrayal of George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy. Naming citation was published on 20 June 1997 (M.P.C. 30098).