(66391) Moshup Aten
Discovered on 20 May 1999 by LINEAR at Socorro.
Moshup was a giant who lived in the coastal areas of New England, according to Native American legends, and was responsible for a variety of geologic features. As a way of maintaining balance, he married Granny Squannit, a leader of the Makiawasug, or Little People, who lived nearby. Squannit was a medicine woman of the Makiawasug who married the giant Moshup. Bad weather was attributed to times when the pair would argue. Moshup is the name of the primary, Squannit that for the satellite.Naming citation (MPC batch dated 2019-08-27), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Moshup is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Moshup is 0.969 au from the Sun and 1.60 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 66391 |
| Provisional designation | 1999 KW4 |
| Orbit class | Aten · near-Earth · potentially hazardous |
| Diameter | 1.32 km (#17,387 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Rotation period | 2.76 hours |
| Spectral type | S: |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 16.64 |
| Orbital period | 0.515 years |
| Semi-major axis | 0.642 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 0.200 – 1.08 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.688 |
| Inclination | 38.9° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 0.0132 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.