(11377) Nye Outer Main-belt Asteroid
Discovered on 17 September 1998 by LONEOS at Anderson Mesa.
Ralph A. Nye (b. 1945), Lowell Observatory's instrument designer, used his considerable technical skills to transform into reality somewhat vague ideas about what LONEOS should look like and how it should function.Naming citation (20000726/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL
Where Nye is today
Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Nye is 3.60 au from the Sun and 3.30 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.
Facts
| Number | 11377 |
| Provisional designation | 1998 SH59 |
| Orbit class | Outer Main-belt Asteroid |
| Diameter | 9.80 km (#5,223 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size) |
| Albedo | 0.0960 |
| Absolute magnitude (H) | 13.45 |
| Orbital period | 5.81 years |
| Semi-major axis | 3.23 au |
| Perihelion – aphelion | 2.84 – 3.62 au |
| Eccentricity | 0.121 |
| Inclination | 2.55° |
| Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID) | 1.85 au |
Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Also named after someone called Ralph
- (9003) Ralphmilliken
- (9850) Ralphcopeland
- (9881) Sampson
- (9902) Kirkpatrick
- (10491) Chou
- (12956) Ralphwijers
- (13852) Ford
- (33594) Ralphlawton
- (50427) Ralphmerrifield
- (172191) Ralphmcnutt
All asteroids named after someone called Ralph
Also discovered on 17 September 1998
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- (12909) Jaclifford
- (12910) Deliso
- (12911) Goodhue
- (12912) Streator
- (13326) Ferri
- (13327) Reitsema
- (13328) Guetter
- (13332) Benkhoff
- (13333) Carsenty
- (13334) Tost