(17446) Mopaku Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 23 January 1990 by R. Rajamohan at Kavalur.
The name Mopaku honors three assistants involved with the observations of minor planets at Kavalur: Venkatachala Moorthy, Arvind Paranjpye and Kamatchiappan Kuppuswamy.Naming citation (WGSBN Bull. 4, #5, 4), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Mopaku is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Mopaku is 2.55 au from the Sun and 1.56 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 17446 |
| Provisional designation | 1990 BC2 |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 4.82 km (#10,970 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.252 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 13.6 |
| Orbital period | 3.79 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.43 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.27 – 2.59 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.0658 |
| Inclination | 5.99° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.28 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.