(7639) Offutt Outer Main-belt Asteroid

Discovered on 21 February 1985 by Oak Ridge Observatory at Harvard.

Named in honor of Warren Offutt (b. 1928), on the occasion of his 70th birthday, 1998 Feb. 13. After a career as an engineering executive, he turned in his retirement to the astronomical applications of CCDs, considering in particular the contributions that can be made by amateur astronomers. At his observatory in New Mexico he has made key observations of several of the objects discovered in the Kuiper Belt in recent years, as well as of other comets and minor planets as faint as 22nd magnitude. His follow-up of S/1997 U 2, one of the two recently discovered satellites of Uranus, played a crucial role in the establishment of its orbit.Naming citation (19980211/MPCPages.arc), IAU / Minor Planet Center, via NASA/JPL

Where Offutt is today

Seen from above the solar system on 2026-10-14: Offutt is 3.01 au from the Sun and 3.80 au from Earth. Computed from JPL's orbital elements.

Facts

Number	7639
Provisional designation	1985 DC1
Orbit class	Outer Main-belt Asteroid
Diameter	12.2 km (#3,999 largest of 17,440 named asteroids with a measured size)
Albedo	0.0820
Absolute magnitude (H)	13.15
Orbital period	5.84 years
Semi-major axis	3.24 au
Perihelion – aphelion	2.89 – 3.60 au
Eccentricity	0.109
Inclination	0.684°
Closest distance between its orbit and Earth's (MOID)	1.89 au

Data: NASA/JPL Small-Body Database and the IAU Minor Planet Center.

More named asteroids discovered by Oak Ridge Observatory

All 28

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