(77870) MOTESS Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 16 September 2001 by Juels, C. W., Holvorcem, P. R. at Fountain Hills.
The Moving Object and Transient Event Search System, located in Tucson, Arizona, consists of three identical 0.35-m f/5 reflecting telescope/CCD camera combinations operating in driftscan mode. Through Aug. 2004 MOTESS reported over 110 000 observations and discovered two NEAs and one comet.Naming citation (20050125/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where MOTESS is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: MOTESS is 2.99 au from the Sun and 2.32 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 77870 |
| Provisional designation | 2001 SM |
| Orbit class | Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 14.7 km (#3,203 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.0510 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 13.31 |
| Orbital period | 4.85 years |
| Semi-major axis | 2.87 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.57 – 3.16 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.104 |
| Inclination | 17.1° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.62 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also discovered on 16 September 2001
- (34796) Rheamalhotra
- (34797) Alicemartynova
- (34799) Mcdonaldboyer
- (34819) Nandininaidu
- (34821) Oyetunji
- (34822) Dhruvikparikh
- (55276) Kenlarner
- (57424) Caelumnoctu
- (57509) Sly
- (83360) Catalina
- (109879) Letelier