(7116) Mentall Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 2 December 1986 by E. Bowell at Anderson Mesa.
Named in honor of E. Talmadge Mentall (b. 1927), who retired from a drafting career to join Sky Publishing Corporation in 1994. With his artistic skill and lifelong enthusiasm for astronomy, “Tal” soon played a pivotal role in the Millennium Star Atlas (1997), a joint undertaking with the European Space Agency's Hipparcos project. He meticulously drafted all the outlines of nebulae and measured the orientations of 2000 galaxies not available from the literature. Name proposed by R. W. Sinnott, endorsed by B. G. Marsden and the discoverer.Naming citation (19980211/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Mentall is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Mentall is 2.21 au from the Sun and 3.20 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 7116 |
| Provisional designation | 1986 XX |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 7.41 km (#7,196 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.152 |
| Rotation period | 6.49 hours |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 13.51 |
| Orbital period | 3.52 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.31 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.19 – 2.44 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0526 |
| Inclination | 8.69° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.22 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.