(95962) Copito Outer Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 19 November 2003 by J. Manteca at Begues.
Copito de Nieve (1962-2003) represented the first known case of albinism in gorillas. In a 1967 article about the gorilla, Riopelle and Zahl gave it the name “Snowflake”. The name stuck and was translated into Spanish as above and into Catalan as “Floquet de Neu”. Copito will always be the star of the Barcelona Zoo.Naming citation (20050407/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
🐶 Copito as a dog name🐱 Copito as a cat name
Where Copito is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Copito is 3.17 au from the Sun and 2.35 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 95962 |
| Provisional designation | 2003 WZ87 |
| Orbit class | Outer Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 6.67 km (#8,029 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.0690 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 14.71 |
| Orbital period | 5.75 years |
| Semi-major axis | 3.21 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 3.09 – 3.33 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0367 |
| Inclination | 21.2° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 2.18 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.